Always Running Out of Time
by a warrior queen
Summary: The clock is ticking. —SasuSaku.
1. fell down a hole

**Notes: **I almost ran around my city in excitement the day Alice in Wonderland came out. And that alone says how much I love Alice in Wonderland. Also, I am well aware that the White Queen is good. i like making twists.

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**One hundred years ago.**

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"You're _such _a pretty, pretty girl, Alice," The White Queen crooned. There was a smile on her thin lips; it was rather obvious that it did not reach her eyes, because in her eyes there was a heavy hatred that chilled one to the bone. She was such a lovely looking woman-girl. Porcelain skin, bleach-blond tresses, ice-blue eyes and she wore a crown. Every girl would love a crown. She was a Queen, at the age of seventeen and she ruled the lands.

"Very, pretty – why can't I be pretty like you, I wonder."

Her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed. She took a couple of steps closer towards her. Her steps were as light as a feather and her gown danced around her legs as she continued to watch the other girl. She smiled again – a sinister smile as the other girl began to squirm in her confinements. The White Queen chuckled as she circled the body laying on the ground. She was gagged, hands tied behind her.

"Are you _scared_, Alice?" She feigned shock and then sudden sadness, "Don't be, sweetie – we're best friends, aren't we?"

She crouched down and undid the cloth that gagged Alice.

"W-why are you doing this?"

The White Queen raised a thin eyebrow and let a blank expression come to her face. She stared at Alice and she tried to wonder what He saw in her. Why did he choose _her_? She couldn't take it – watching him look at her with hidden-soft eyes. How he would change his answer if it made her sad-mad-worried. It disgusted her – it made her _sick_! He was supposed to be like that with _her_! Not _Alice_!

"Because you have something that belongs to me."

Green eyes widened and The White Queen's anger rose.

"Don't act as if you don't know! You do! You _do_! I _hate_ you, Alice. I _hate _you! I _despise_ the day you stumbled into The Valley of The End. I _abhor _the day He met you! You _don't _belong here – you just _waltzed _in here and took everything that was _mine_! Well," ice-blue eyes narrowed into slits and her rage only grew as she hissed through her teeth, "now you're going to pay."

"D-don't do this," Alice rasped out through her tears, "P-please. White Queen… I…. Please… I…"

"It's too late, Alice." The White Queen turned to The White Knight and outstretched her hand, "Give me your blade."

The White Knight hesitated for a millisecond before he did as his Queen told him so. She took the Vorpal sword and held it in her grip and a dark, wicked grin appeared on her lips. She took the steps needed to stand right in front of Alice. She kicked her until she was lying on her back instead of her sides and The White Queen laughed as she saw the tears spilling the green eyes that belonged to Alice.

"Good-bye, Dear Alice."

And the Sword was arched and pinned into Alice's heart.

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When He found her, she was dead.

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**Always  
Running  
Out  
of  
Time**

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**Present time.**

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Sakura stood there, baffled at the sight of such a... a gorgeous being standing before her.

He was gorgeous, yes, but also weird. He _appeared _weird, at least to her. He was gorgeous because he had these obsidian black eyes that shimmered with mischief yet he managed to look bored, too. His hair, a striking black so dark that in the light it looked as if he had natural blue-violet highlights. His skin was pale, a total contrast to his eyes and hair, making his features all the more alluring and entrancing.

And he had cat ears and a tail.

Weird, don't deny it because it is.

He stood there, slouching in his stance, hands dug into the pockets of his slacks, dark button-up shirt riding up at the intrusion of his forearms resting in its place. Since he practically _pounced _out of nowhere, he has not moved, nor made a move to speak.

Sakura was baffled indeed.

"Um..."

He stared at her, blinking slowly and lazily that it almost looked as if he was sleeping. Sakura had the decency to wonder if he ate catnip or fish or if he ate like a normal human being... Did he demand milk?

She giggled at that.

"I find nothing to be utterly humorous."

Sakura sucked in air through her teeth. His voice was low and deep and smooth and silky. She's read about a guy with cat-ears and a cat-tail ― he had been pretty.

"Well, if you were able to dwell in my mind, or so much as read it, you'd know exactly why I was laughing," She crossed her arms in front of her chest, bloating her cheeks and darting her green eyes away from him and to the large oak-tree they were standing by.

"Know, I might. Agree, I might not." Behind him, his tail twitched around in a manner that Sakura found completely cute.

Sakura made to mimic him, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out. She knew she was being childish, but it's not every day you see a cat-man-boy stand in front of you while you were on your merrily way towards your friend's house.

"How childish," He said.

"Your face is childish," She pouted and flipped her pink hair over her shoulder. "May I help you with something Mister Tom Cat? I'm actually on my way to something, if you don't mind."

"Oh but I do, Sakura." His tone was bored, indifferent and a drawl. Sakura had a hard time deciding if she should be offended, or allured.

That's before she realized he had spoken her name.

"Excuse me? How do you know my name? Are you a stalker? Please don't be a stalker ― I'd feel weird at being stalked by a cat... and bad for putting him in... One of those animal shelter-places." She nodded and uncrossed her hands, settling them onto her hips instead. "I'm all for animal rights and all―"

"Your words are annoying. Stop talking."

Sakura gawked at him, green eyes growing wide, mouth gaping. Seriously? Seriously? _Seriously_? "Well you stupid little prick," she began, seething and growing red, "if you'd step aside and go meow somewhere else, I'll be on my way!"

Stomping, she made to walk passed him, but the second she did, he was in front of her again.

"Your cat jokes are tiresome," he said, behind him, his tail twitched again.

"You won't have to hear them once you move!"

Sakura was growing angry ― not that she wasn't already... So she was already angry, not growing... right? Gah! She confused herself. She pinned the cat-man-boy with a hard glare, lips pursing.

He didn't budge.

"May I _help_ you," she finally asked with a dejected sigh. She jutted out a hip and placed a hand over it. And because she simply couldn't help herself, she added with a wry smile, "If you're looking for Jerry, he must be in any house. You have your work cut out for you, Tom."

"My name is _Sasuke_," the cat-man-boy said with an indifferent expression.

She stared at him, ignoring the jolts she got. She was a teenage girl and standing before such a pretty guy was bound to make her swoon. But now she knew his name and he knew hers ― which she still did not know why and how - and... What was there to lose? Ino could wait.

Sakura relaxed and exhaled with an air of cooperation, if needed, surrounding her. "Alright," she said softly, her hand still at her hip. "Okay, Cat―I mean... Sasuke. Okay. What is wrong?"

"Nothing really," he shrugged.

"Okay," she stared at him with an incredulous look. "So before anything, how do you know my name?"

Sasuke shifted his weight from one leg to the other and scoffed. He turned his head to the side, raven bangs shielding his profile and the twinge of rosy-pink that crept on to his cheeks.

But Sakura didn't waver, no matter how much she wanted to smile.

"Well?"

"I know your name because I have been waiting for this moment since the day you were born."

Like earlier, Sakura sucked in air through her teeth. She felt her blood pumping in her ears, her heart pounding against her chest. That's not something you hear every day. Nor something Sakura was prepared for. But she'll admit that having someone say that to her felt good. Scary, but good. It's like one of those things men would say to a woman to make her feel good before she takes it the wrong way.

"U-uh," she stammered and licked her lips, "I'm going to need some sort of clarification."

Sasuke sighed, long, low and slow; but he nodded and with a nudge he disappeared. Sakura was in the process of gawking when he appeared on top of a tree branch, sitting on with his legs dangling in the air and his hands planted on either side of him. It took her around five minutes to try and grasp what the hell was going on before she gave up and just walked over, sitting on the ground criss-cross, her front facing him.

"Sakura Haruno," Sasuke said and that was all before he grew silent again. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His ears were slanted downwards, Sakura figured he was displeased or uncertain. Her cat, Hermes, did the same thing whenever he knew he did something wrong or when he was just upset.

She didn't press him, though. She got him to talk; chances were she could get him to not say anything at all.

"You said," she whispered, mainly because Sakura did not like silence, "that you were waiting for this moment since I was born... What did you mean... How _old _are you?"

Sasuke perked up, or... well... Sakura assumed. Sasuke seemed like an impassively grouchy person; or well… she was just assuming here. Perking up was something he wouldn't really do. But then again, she hardly knew the guy...

"I've remained seventeen for as long as I can remember." One of Sasuke's ears twitched and flapped around (Hermes' ear did that too!). Sakura had the sudden urge to scratch behind said ear. "I've waited for us to meet, because... It's hard to explain."

"Well, you've grasped my attention; I'm not going anywhere any time soon." Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest again and continued to stare at Sasuke.

He held her stare for a minute, looked over her in discomfort and then stared back at her with renewed resolute. He inclined his head to the trunk of the tree and exhaled slowly. "Sakura, I watched as your mother carried you within her womb. Watched as she gave birth and I have remained watching as you've grown until finally... _Finally_, you've come back to me."

Sakura looked as if she'd been slapped across the face.

"_What_?"

Sasuke nodded, "You are Her reincarnation ― you carry her name... Her features ― _everything_." He looked almost pained, almost delighted, almost, almost, almost. Like he's seen a ghost; but a ghost he would like to see every day, if he could.

"Okay," Sakura breathed out, her voice cracking and becoming a shrill of disbelief, "Let's say I buy this...What happened to me... What happened to your Sakura...?" Because if she carried her name, her name _had _to be Sakura.

Sasuke hissed and looked away. His eyes became distant, almost as if he were in a trance. "The White Queen killed her." His brow furrowed and he licked his lips. "They had been friends, very close. But the White Queen grew jealous when Sakura had grasped my attention... Or maybe she never liked her from the start; The White Queen…" He trailed off and shook his head. " When she found out about Us, she was furious..."

Sakura's eyes shimmered with sympathy as she grasped at where he was going.

"...I was too late." He looked up at her. "I've waited half a century for her to return... And I will not allow the White Queen to take her away from me again."

"I... I..." She shook her head slowly, "Sasuke, I'm sorry... But aren't you... Are you _sure _that I am her?" Sakura decided that something was utterly wrong with her. She should be panicking, fleeing - this should not be _happening_. And yet it all was, and Sakura was taking it as if she was being told that tomorrow it was going to rain.

"I mean..." She waved at herself, "Look at me..."

She was short - just two inches away from being 5'1". She had _pink _hair that reached just over her shoulders and green eyes. A button nose, pouty lips; her chest was... alright, she supposed, her curves were there but she refused to flaunt them. And from being short, she had _short legs_.

How can someone like Sasuke... who was strikingly gorgeous... How can he have deep feelings for her?

"You're beautiful," he muttered lowly that, had Sakura not been straining every one of her five senses, she would have missed it. But, as warm as it made her feel inside, she couldn't possibly go along with this… Right? This was wrong… Right?

She shook her head, "I refuse to believe that I am... I am that person that you're waiting for." She smiled sadly, "You're very pretty, Sasuke... I'm sure... I..."

"_No_, Sakura. You don't understand," Sasuke stared at her long and hard, "You are her. I can't tell you you'd remember, because that's it ―you _can't_. You look like her... you act like her... you _are _her. But you do not have her memories."

Sakura stared at him.

"Because we have to create them."

"Why," Sakura was close to tears. To think that when she woke up this morning, she thought it was going to be a normal Saturday. Now here she was, being told that she was the reincarnation of someone that was murdered for being in love. "Why does part of me want to believe you?"

"Because," he said in a heartbeat, looking towards the distance once again, "it's the truth."

He disappeared again; Sakura gulped and looked around the place and almost shrieked when he reappeared right in front of her. And then he held out a hand for her to grasp, his tail flailing around happily behind him. "Come with me, there's a place we got to go."

Sakura bit her lip and hesitated. What was there to lose?

Her parents, Ino... her life.

But... Looking back at Sasuke... Something told her this was all pretend and that her true life might just really begin once she took his hand and really follow him down the rabbit hole, as a figure of speech, of course... Right? And then there was that never-ending _curiosity_. She _wanted _to go. She wanted to _see _what he was talking about. Now that… Now that's he's said this, she wanted to _go._ Right or wrong, she wanted to.

"I assure you," He said with a devilish smirk, "It's worth your time."

Sakura's nose crinkled, "Will I grow a tail and have cat ears?"

Sasuke snorted, "Of course not, idiot."

Smiling, she placed her hand in his. He enclosed his hand around hers and lifted her up to her feet. They stood there for a second, staring, before he smirked at her and robbed her of her first kiss. A swift, chaste brush of his lips over hers. Yet it did manage to leave her breathless.

"Your hand in mine," he murmured, "What a feeling."

And then he led her away.

To where, Sakura wasn't sure. And though she met him today, and though she might have known him all her life without knowing it, Sakura felt safe. It may have been because of the air he carried around him – sure and without hesitation. And he was pretty. That was ten points.

She squeezed her hand in his. It was stupid, doing this - but it was right. Sakura just _felt _it being _right_. Maybe to others it wasn't - but then again, this couldn't happen to many. So to her, it was. And it will be. She looked at him, dark eyes concentrating on their destination. And she smiled.

Whatever it was – wrong or right – she was in, already.

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Alice was coming.

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And, just because people seem to _never _read author's notes, let me say this one more time and bold it, italicize it, underline it - everything so you guys can actually grasp the fact. _**I know that the White Queen is a good guy. I switched the whole thing up.**_ Thank you.

review! :D


	2. welcome to mystery

**dedication: **TO SARA. MY LOVELY CONCUBINE AND MY PARTNER IN CRIME... AT NIGHT. bahaha.**  
notes: **thanks for the reviews, you guys. just fave-ing my stuff annoys the crap out of me. it's as if you're all in a race to do so. but whatever.

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"D'you want some more tea, Hatter?"

She shook her head, bright amber eyes staring at her two tea-mates. She was propped at the head of the elongated table; the chair was more like a recliner. Her booted feet were propped on the table, her elbows resting on the recliner's arms. The Mad Hatter let a wide grin take a grip of her lips.

"March Hare, what have I said about eating ramen with tea?"

The blond boy ceased from wolfing down his ramen and looked up, electric-blue eyes with dilated pupils growing wide and his brown rabbit-ears twitching until they bent in an almost terrified manor, "…I don't recall."

The Mad Hatter's grin widened all the more, "You're supposed to put the tea _in _the ramen!"

"Oh yeah! How could I forget?" With that, The March Hare poured his cup of tea into the ramen, a grin as wide as The Mad Hatter's on his lips. He snickered, clapping his hands before throwing the empty tea-cup as hard as he could; his snickers turned into full out laughter when the satisfying shatter-sound of the tea-cup smashing against a tree trunk came to his ears.

The Mad Hatter joined his laughter, hers sounding like shattering glass compared to The March Hare's booming one. She sat up, grabbing her tea-cup and taking a delicate sip. She grabbed a piece of bread, a butter knife and… Where was the butter? Caramel eyes searched the much chinaware littering the table… And where the hell was the butter?

"Pass the butter," she said placidly, her smile still intact.

"Butter!" The March Hare screeched, blue eyes searching the table.

"Butter," the other male questioned, milky-silver eyes searching as well. "…There seems to be no butter, Hatter."

The Mad Hatter blinked.

"No… Butter?" She tilted her head, eyes shadowed by the brim of her hat, "No. Butter."

The March Hare shook his head and smiled, "No butter here."

The bread in The Hatter's grip broke in half just as soon as her grip tightened, "NO BUTTER?! NO BUTTER?! HOW CAN THERE BE BREAD BUT NO BUTTER?!"

She crumbled the bread into a ball and threw it as hard as she could. She jumped off her recliner and stood up, her hands shooting for the edge of the table. "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS! I SWEAR. IT'S LUDICROUS TO HAVE BREAD BUT NO. DAMN. BUTTER!"

The Mad Hatter lifted the table up, but before she could even _succeed _in toppling it over, the one of the two boys was at her side. The March Hare jumped from one foot to the other as he grabbed his rabbit ears and pulled hard and desperately. His eyes were wild as he looked on with utter fear and nervousness and _god _did he want to throw something. "Dormouse, sooooooooth her!"

"Hatter," The Dormouse said, his rat-tail whipping in back of him. He set a hand on her shoulder, and instantly, The Mad Hatter calmed down.

She took a deep breath, lowering her head down so that her hat covered her face. A second later, she was beaming up at them with a wide maniacal grin. "Sorry that nonsense!" She took her seat again, resuming her pose in which her legs were on the table and her elbows on the arms of her recliner.

Seeing that she was all better, the two boys went back to their seats as well; The March Hare grabbed his bowl of ramen and, with all his force, threw it. The clatter of it meeting another tree made him laugh. The Dormouse continued to sip his tea, quietly.

"Say," The Hatter said, raising her hat up a bit to scratch at her itch, "Where the hell is The Cheshire Cat?"

"The Cheshire Cat," The March Hare asked excitedly.

She nodded her head and scanned the place around, "Where is that conniving cat?"

The Dormouse shrugged and The March Hare, looking absolutely hyper, continued to look around. The Hatter sucked at her teeth and shook her head, "Tsk, tsk. He should know better than running off out of the Valley of the End," she grabbed one of the kunais that rested under the strap around her precious hat and then began to twirl it in her hands, "The Queen is _always _watching."

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**Always Running Out  
of  
Time**

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"Ugh, are we _there _yet?"

Sakura slumped down on a log, leaning her chin on the palm of her hand. They've been walking for thirty minutes at most – but the _sun _was so hot and it was so hard to walk under it when you're wearing… Okay, so she was dressed for a warm weather… She didn't like walking. That was the problem. She just… just didn't.

Sighing, she peered at her companion from over dark-red lashes and pouted. He looked the same – not tired, not even _hot_. And he was wearing _slacks _and a _long-sleeved-button-up _and a _vest_. She fought the smile that wanted to come to her lips as she caught his deep black-blue tail sway softly behind him.

Sasuke was… Adorable, as weird as it sounded.

"I can't believe you're tired," he commented in a monotone. He disappeared and appeared on the low-branch of the tree next to the log she was perched on. He was lying on his stomach, one of his legs dangling in the air while his elbows and his left knee supported his weight. He was smirking at her, his ears perked up and his tail still twitching around – until it poked her head.

"Hey!"

"Hello," he drawled out. "Will you hurry? We have to be back before it becomes known that I left."

Sakura bloated her cheeks, "Stop talking so cryptically!"

"I'm not."

"_Yes_ you _are_. I mean, who is going to find out that you're not… where you're supposed to be? And _where _are we going?"

Sasuke sighed and disappeared again, this time appearing in a crouch right in front of her, "You ask a lot of questions," he commented dryly, "If you'd hurry, they'd all be answered. Can we go now, Sakura?"

Ignoring him, Sakura looked around their surroundings – he'd taken them into the forest just on the outskirts of the city; the one that was… "Why are you taking me to the Great Bridge?"

Looking at her with a straight, blank face, Sasuke responded, "I'm not. I'm taking you to the Valley of the End."

"…_Where_?"

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his ears flapping before perking up all over again. Sakura raised an eyebrow before pouting and looking away from him, her arms crossing in front of her chest. She refused to move from the log she was sitting on until he at _least _told her where they were going… Okay, so he said where that was. But… what _was _that place? Why did it have such a sad name?

Biting her lip she took a peek at him through her bangs, "Is," she said softly, "Is the Valley of the End… where the old Sakura lived? Is that your home?"

"Sakura lived in Konoha before she stumbled into the Valley. She stayed… because she wanted to stay." Sakura understood completely what he meant; she stayed for him. Looking down, she sighed and stood up from the log. Honestly, she didn't know why she kept saying yes. Maybe she was just curious. Maybe it was because Sakura was strangely attracted.

Maybe it's because she wanted to go.

"Okay—What are you doing?!" She watched, eyes wide, as Sasuke crouched down again, this time with his back facing her. Her green eyes followed his tail as it swayed from side to side.

He looked at her from over his shoulder with an irritated stare, "Get on my back."

"Wah—no—I—_no_!"

"Sakura, stop wasting time and get on my back," Sasuke snapped, "you're delaying us both for your stubbornness and your slow pace of walk."

She gaped at him, placing her hands on her hips. He was… so… so… rude. Like, seriously – wasn't he _in love _with Sakura? Therefore, wasn't he _in love_ with her as well? How can he be so damn rude to the person he was in love with, not to mention _waiting for_ for half a century. Sakura did not understand… Nor did she want to. Making up her mind, she turned in her heels and stalked away. She was _so _not going to deal with all that drama! Nope! Not her. She was just going to forget this ever happened and just head to Ino's place like she was supposed to.

Next thing she knew, Sasuke appeared in front of her, his hands dug into the pockets of his slacks and his eyes glaring at her. He had the decency to _glare_! Ugh, Sakura wanted to pull her hair out. She returned the animalistic gesture, her button-nose crinkling from the strain of her frown.

"What are you doing," he demanded.

"Leaving!" Sakura waved her arms in the air and stomped one of her feet (which were covered in red beat-up converses) to the ground.

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes, "I can tell. But _why_."

"Because you _suck_," Sakura made to walk around him, but Sasuke was right in front of her a second later. "Ex_cuse_ me!"

She pushed past him, but didn't get even a step away from him when something… furry wrapped around her wrist. Gasping, she looked down to see Sasuke's tail gripping her; she was too busy staring to yell at him.

"Don't leave," he sounded blank, but… for some reason Sakura was _able _to know what he meant.

Looking up at him, green eyes wide, and mouth slightly open, Sakura almost melted. He was _very _pretty and he _did _make her heartbeat escalate but… Sakura wasn't all that tolerant to rudeness. But… Maybe Sasuke could be an exception. Maybe Sasuke was rude by default and it wasn't his intention to…Maybe.

"Okay," she sighed, "Okay…"

Then, Sasuke's tail lifted her up to his back and he led them to the Valley of the End.

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_Normalcy was something she was used to. Something she liked, a lot. Routine, not so much – but routine was related to normalcy, so she faired. Every day it was the same: wake up, have breakfast with Anko, walk together to the shop, work, come home. _

_It was always the same._

_And she must admit that she liked it._

_When she had awoken that day, she had instantly felt that something was amidst. But being who she was and not liking anything out of the ordinary, she banished the thoughts to the darkest corners of her mind and went along with the daily routine._

"_How about we get drunk tonight, sis?"_

_She stared at her older sister with wide amber eyes, "Don't be stupid, Anko. If we were to drink tonight, we won't wake up to open the shop."_

_Next to her, Anko snorted. "As if someone would cry bloody murder if the local Hat-shop didn't open for a day. C'mon, sis!"_

_She rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the road towards their shop. "You said you'd have my hat finished yesterday, Anko. My birthday was **months **ago and you're still not even done."_

"_Hush up, kid! I got your hat, just be patient, jeez."_

_She stuck her tongue out at her older sister, but remained quiet. She watched with a sort of detachment as the townsfolk ran up and down the streets; bread-sellers, meat-sellers, entrepreneurs, trinket-sellers, kids and their mothers, husbands and their housewives. It was always like this. And she was alright with it._

_Stopping in front of their shop, she waited for Anko to unlock and allow the sun to illuminate their store. She watched as the sign of their store swung back and forth with the light breeze, the picture of the dark-violet hat and the green M moving back and forth along with it. From her peripheral vision, she caught a boy – not far from her age – with a cat tail and cat ears pass her by, hands in the pockets of his slacks. She turned to look at him, but he was gone. Sighing, she followed Anko inside, closing the door (now unlocked) and ignoring the small tinkering-bell that jingled when the door opened or closed._

"_Well, let me see it," she said excitedly, her caramel eyes brightening ten folds, "c'mon!"_

_Laughing, Anko shook her head and made a signal for her to follow. _

_When she entered the back room, she grinned when she caught her older sister pull something from under a white sheet. The hat was gorgeous, she decided, it was black, fairly big, but she knew it'd fit her well – it looked like a Gentleman's hat – it had a violet ribbon going around it (violet was Anko's favorite color) and a peacock's feather tucked under it (peacocks gave luck). It was gorgeous – simple, but gorgeous._

_She watched as her sister, as a joke, tucked in a price tag under the ribbon; 10/6. _

"_Try it on, kid," Anko said, walking towards her and placing it on her head, "There, you look good. The townspeople are going to bug about this – they're going to want one just like it."_

"_Well, this is one of a kind!" She twirled around… and then lost her balance as something close to an earthquake occurred._

_Wide-eyed, she fixed her new hat and turned to Anko who was frowning at the door of the backroom. Wordlessly, the older of the two walked out to the main selling-room and to the window-walls. She heard her gasp, "The White Queen…"_

_Before anything, Anko whipped around to look at her, "We have to get out of here!"_

"_What's going on, An—"_

"_The Town's under attack – The White Queen," the ground shook, "Move it!"_

"_Hatter!_

_Hatter!_

―Hatter!"

She shot her head up, her interlaced hands undoing themselves as one of them lifted her hat up and away from covering her eyes. She turned to stare at The Dormouse, who had stopped sipping at his tea, and then at The March Hare who was drumming his fingers together in anxiety. It was only by chance that she saw the enormous dog making its way towards them. Now that she thought about it, the earthquake-like shakes in her dreams came from the real ones that she and the two boys were enduring together. Their elongated table shook, as did the chinaware on top of it, as did the dozens of vacated chairs… as did they.

The Hatter sat up, her booted feet dropping from the table and to the grassy ground, "Akamaru," she breathed out, hard amber eyes watching as the giant dog approached them along with a white carriage trailing little ways behind it.

"Wh-what do we do, Hatter," The March Hare asked in his usually rapid way; he always managed to make his words come out bunched up together.

She shook her head, "We say nothing. We know nothing."

"But, The Cheshire Cat—"

"_We know nothing, March Hare_," The Mad Hatter said, turning to look at him with eyes as hard as steel.

The blond stared at her, blue eyes dancing as he looked around anxiously before he gave a vigorous nod and grabbed at his rabbit-ears. Sitting right in front of him, on the other side of the table, The Dormouse's eyes were closed, his tail whipped around in agitation as soon as Akamaru came to a stop right in front of their table; he growled, deep and low, causing the earth around them to rumble. And then he barked, fanning them with his strong breath.

Behind the beast, the carriage came to a stop as well; a lovely girl came out of the white source-of-transportation. Unlike the pure-color of the carriage and the gown she wore, her hair was as dark as night, her eyes a milky-lavender. She looked absolutely harmless, and carried herself with an air that was a mixture of timidness and proudness.

The Mad Hatter watched as The Dormouse's eyes snapped open and his head turned towards the girl in an almost robotic manner.

"Ah," she said, knowing that the other two did not wish to speak, "Duchess, how may I help you this fine afternoon?"

The Duchess ran a small, gentle hand up and down Akamaru's white fur. "Hatter, I assure you that I know you have knowledge as to why we have come to visit you."

Everything about the girl was soft and gentle, her facial features, her voice – everything. But, The Mad Hatter decided idly, she was on the wrong side and she knew it; and if she knew it and did nothing about it, unlike her exterior, her interior was anything but soft and gentle.

The Hatter smiled cheekily and clapped her gloved hands (one purple, the other one green) and giggled, "Oh, but Duchess, we don't know why you're here! Because if we did, I wouldn't have asked!"

The Duchess raised a thin eyebrow and continued to stare at them. Before she could even utter a reply, another slender figure stepped out of the carriage. She was as curvaceous as the Duchess, her gown as white as hers, as well. She was taller, stood prouder, and unlike the Duchess, she looked anything but soft and gentle. Her blue eyes were piercing and almost menacing, her white-blond hair tied tightly on the top of her head.

"Ah," The Hatter said, mimicking her earlier gasp. This time, she stood from her seat, her black tutu-skirt ruffling with her movements, "The White Queen. How may I be of your service, Your Highness?"

"Cut the courtesy, Hatter," The White Queen's voice was like a thousand glasses shattering at once, "We know that it is meaningless."

"Always unkind, aye, Your Highness," The Mad Hatter, to continue her mockery, took off her hat and settled it on her earlier seat. Taking a quick glance at her companions, she watched them lower their heads and she could almost hear their mantras of "I'm not here, I'm not here". But unlike The Cheshire Cat, they could not dematerialize when they were in sticky situations.

"Where is he," The White Queen demanded.

Tilting her head, and ignoring the breeze her pigtails caused, The Hatter gave the woman a faux-puzzled look, "Who?"

Akamaru growled, his lips curling up on his muzzle as it glared vehemently at the trio.

"_Do not play games with me, Mad Hatter!"_

"Well," she said, her cheeky grin grown broader, "I must say, _White Queen_, that I am _not _playing games with you. I certainly have not a clue on who you are looking for."

The White Queen, grew pink as her anger escalated, "WHERE IS THE CHESHIRE CAT?!"

"The Cheshire Cat, M'lady?"

The Queen's piercing blue eyes narrowed into slits, "He has gone to Konoha, hasn't he?"

"And what is this Konoha of which you speak," The Hatter asked, twirling a dark lock of her hair around her finger.

The Queen grew bright red, now, but before she could command Akamaru to kill them, the Duchess stepped in. "Hatter, it is unwise for you to anger the White Queen," she murmured in her soft voice, "Just tell us where The Cheshire Cat has gone."

Everything went silent as The Hatter stared at the two women dressed in white with a blank expression. Her eyes darkened, shadows appearing under them as she finally said, "I know _nothing_."

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The place had always been breathtaking to her; the crystal-clearness of the waterfall and the river-lake below it, the entrancing curves and sharpness of the gorge. The trees surrounding the top always looked healthy and alive and the clearness of Konoha's skies made the picture look so much more gorgeous. The statues of two century-old-and-dead men stood on either side of the waterfall, facing each other on either side of the waterfall. Sakura knew one as Hashirama Senju – Konoha's founder… The other one had always been a mystery to her.

Turning to look over her shoulder, she caught the Great Bridge – the one that allowed them to travel to Oto and the cities beyond that and back. But Sasuke was hopping down from boulder to boulder, lowering down-down-down until they were standing on a rock too big to be swallowed whole by the river-lake.

"What…What are we doing here," she whispered, looking around with frantic eyes.

Sasuke sighed, almost tiredly, "I told you we're going to the Valley of the End."

Sakura shook her head, simply not understanding. "How can this be the Valley of the End, if this is the Great Bridge and the Great Waterfall?"

A giggle almost past by her lips as she watched his ears flap up and down – something they did when Sasuke grew impatient, she'd notice. Her need to giggle disappeared when Sasuke began to move again, stepping into the water and heading straight towards the waterfall. Panic began to eat at her as her eyes grew wide. "Sasuke… What are you _doing_?"

She went on ignored as Sasuke continued his steady pace; to her utter shock, she watched as she and Sasuke remained dry, even as they stepped through the waterfall. On the other side, it was a dead end; it was nothing but solid rock… At least, that's what Sakura thought. She shrieked as Sasuke stepped through the solid-rock-wall; a portal.

And then, all Sakura remembered was falling.

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so thereee. i must say that tenten's my favorite so far. bahaha.

review! :D


	3. tea party

**notes: **so, i'm kinda addicted to this story. i apologize for briefly abandoning everything else; this'll pass soon, you'll see.

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Sakura stirred once the feeling of the wind whipping at her face became coherent in her thoughts; strands of her pink hair lashing at her cheeks and forehead made her groan. After that sunk in, the fact that she was moving at a fast pace came to mind. Almost immediately, her eyes snapped open, looking around with a new sense of fear and perplexity.

The first thing that came to her view, other than the endless line of trees, was a blue-black-violet tail and instantly her memory came flooding back to her. She eased down, even if just a bit, as her goal switched from freaking out to trying to lift her head up and off Sasuke's shoulder. But then _that _came to an abrupt stop as she found herself trying to remember how in the world she got into the forest again.

Did Sasuke change his mind? Was she going to drop her off somewhere, or something? Wasn't he going to take her to… What was that place called, again?

Raking her mind, she tried to remember the last thing that happened before she fell asleep; they had been walking towards the Great Waterfall…as in, straight towards it. No, actually, they'd stepped into the other side of it and then there was a rock-wall and then…

…She didn't fall asleep. She fell _unconscious_. And there was a _very _high chance that she wasn't even in Konoha any longer. Sakura's fear came back to her ten times stronger than before. She groggily groaned and blinked her eyes, trying as hard as possible not to thrash around on Sasuke's back. Because then he'd drop her… And that'd… Just no.

"Where," she trailed off at the sound of her raspy voice, "where are we…?"

"You're awake," Sasuke said, his speed never wavering – he didn't even turn to look if she was alright.

Ignoring that, Sakura tried once again to lift her head off his shoulder. Succeeding in that, she looked around and saw nothing but trees and trees and more trees. "We're not in Konoha, are we…?"

"No."

"Where—the Valley of the End…?"

"Hn."

And suddenly, Sakura's fear turned to complete curiosity as she looked at her surroundings with inquisitiveness rather than alarm. Now the trees weren't plain trees – no, they had faces; eyes, closed as they slept, a stub of a branch making up their noses, and a thin line as their mouths. Sakura had the urge to gasp, but refrained. The gasp did manage to escape past her lips just as soon as a tree cracked its eyes open (eyeball-less. Just plain black, endless sockets) and gave her a smile. She returned it, bashfully, looking over her shoulder at the tree as they passed it.

"Where are we going," she asked, now fully awake.

She felt Sasuke grunt and rolled her eyes just as soon as one of his ears twitched, "We're almost there."

"I want to walk," she stated. Not because he pissed her off again, but more because… because she wanted to _see_. Smiling trees – what _else _could the Valley of the End _have_? Sakura wanted to know it _all_. She allowed a small smile to come to her lips as Sasuke's running came to a stop; he gently set her down, turning to face her soon after. Her green eyes stared at his swaying tail – such a mischievous tail, at that. "Thank you."

She felt his eyes on her as she turned her head from left to right, spinning around slowly, raising her head and then lowering it. Hesitantly, yet curiously, she took a couple of steps towards the nearest tree and stared at it, tilting her head as she concentrated in finding its eyes and mouth. Giving up, she crouched down and, with delicacy, fingered a flower.

"_Hello, dear."_

Sakura's head snapped up, and once she caught the bottomless, obsidian sockets staring down at her along with a wrinkly smile, her green eyes grew wide and a shriek as loud as the sound of ambulances erupted from deep within her throat and out past her lips. She fell back on her behind, and then she began to backwards-crawl away from the tree, a new quake in her body. She thrashed when she felt hands on her shoulders, but when Sasuke's voice made past her panic-attack, she calmed down.

"Sakura, it's just an old oak tree."

Sakura gulped and turned to stare at Sasuke. He rolled his eyes and lifted her back up to her feet; Sakura grasped her composure and managed a weak, shaky smile at the tree. "I-I-I'm sorry…"

"_Oh, don't worry, dear. It happens all the time_."

Sakura smiled, giving the tree a shaky wave as Sasuke pulled her away. She sighed, bringing a hand to her fast-beating heart as she closed her eyes and willed it to go back to normal. A couple of steps farther, and Sasuke let go of her hand; Sakura resumed her observations. To be completely honest, she had pictured the Valley of the End to be… Well, weird. Red skies and purple grass – talking inanimate objects (…though, the talking part has been taken care of by the trees, she supposed); but, looking around, not counting the trees, everything was, well, _normal._

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**Always  
Running out of  
Time**

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They walked in silence for a while; Sakura was fidgety through it all – she _hated _being quiet, not to mention that she was _positive _that large (and beautiful, she'll admit) field of flowers giggled at her as she and Sasuke passed by. And through it all, Sasuke kept his indifferent face and his aloof posture and his air of I-don't-care; hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, eyes half-lidded, lips in a default frown.

How could the past Sakura have fallen in love with someone like him? How could _he _have fallen in love with someone like Sakura? If the past Sakura was anything like her, she must have been loud, at times obnoxiously bratty, curious and bipolar. Sasuke didn't seem like one to handle that kind of attitude if he didn't necessarily have to.

Sakura bit at her lip as she continued to ponder; Sasuke was, as she's admitted to herself countless of times, very attractive. His cat-ears and cat-tail were adorable rather than creepily weird; his attitude, though annoying, was what allured her, as stupid as it sounded. And…

…Suddenly, she heard laughter, clanking of glass against glass – she gasped when Sasuke ducked a flying tea-cup and, by pure reflex, she managed to duck it as well. She turned, wide eyed, and stared as the tea-cup crashed into the tree-trunk right behind her, falling into millions of pieces.

"What the hell is that," she managed to hiss at Sasuke, reluctantly taking a grasp of his hand. Maybe if whoever was attacking them saw that she was with Sasuke, he-she-it would leave her alone.

In return, Sasuke snorted, "Idiot."

Sakura twitched but before she could even turn to ask him _what _he was babbling about… something caught her eye. Her mouth snapped closed and her eyes narrowed as she concentrated. There was a table – long, like the kind that you find in meeting-rooms or the ones that you can fold and unfold, but this one was solid oak, she could tell. It was surrounded by dozens of seats; recliners, table-chairs, benches, stools and the like.

As they neared, she noticed the endless supply of chinaware littering the table-top; tea-pots, tea-cups, tea-plates, forks, spoons, butter-knives, bread and muffins. Sakura could only blink as she witnessed _why _and _how _the tea-cup flew past them; a blond (with freakin' _RABBIT EARS_!), shaking from what she supposed was too much energy, grabbed another tea-cup and threw it as far as he could. He laughed and clapped his hands before hopping to the next seat and repeating.

The two keeping him company didn't seem to notice what he was doing, or just didn't seem to care; the guy with the long hair and… rat-tail… had his eyes closed as he sipped his tea and the girl sitting at the head of the table hadn't raised her head from its slung position in which her… hat covered her entire face.

Sakura officially felt… nervous.

"Sa—"

She stopped when she caught Sasuke's smirk. "Idiot, would you quit throwing the fuckin' tea-cups?"

Sakura's eyes widened as the blond-who-must-be-on-crack stopped in the middle of flinging another cup and instead turned his head (slowly, she might add) to stare at them with wide, and dilated pupils, eyes. Her nerves went a little bit crazier when the blond cracked a grin that stretched from ear to ear, and his rabbit-ears perked up and he jumped off his seat, clapping his hands and ranting rather loudly.

"OH, LOOK. SASUKE-TEME IS BACK. HE'S _BACK_. NEJI, TENTEN, LOOK!"

She raised an eyebrow and turned to Sasuke, "Friend of yours?"

"Unfortunately," he muttered.

Before she could say anything back, another voice cut her off, "Wha―so the cunning cat is back, huh?"

Sakura snapped to stare at… the girl. It was the girl; her head was now lifted, hat sheltering her head, but allowing her face to be visible. Sakura found herself completely admiring the girl; bright amber eyes shadowed by what Sakura assumed were bags from lack of sleep, pigtails that were tangled and poofy from the lack of brushing it, but that was alright because her hat covered most of her head. She wore an orange corset around her torso and fingerless gloves covered her palms; a purple one, and a green one.

And… as the girl stood, Sakura's eyes feasted upon a black tutu-skirt, black biker-shorts and—

"…_Sakura_?!"

Instantly, she froze and, for the third time, her eyes grew wide. The girl she had just been admiring had jumped up on top of the table and with a stride that was hesitant and excited and careless all in one, the girl moved towards Sakura and Sasuke – dropping and breaking everything in her way. Once she made it so that she was on the edge of the table closest to them, she hopped down and sprinted towards them.

Next thing Sakura knew, gloved hands had a grasp of her shoulders and she was being shaken.

"SAKURA, IS THAT REALLY YOU?! OH SWEET MUFFINS, YOU'RE BACK. YOU'RE FINALLY BACK. I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH, YOU HAVE NO IDEA; SASUKE'S BEEN AN INSUFFERABLE BROODY LITTLE BITCH FOR THE PAST ONE-HUNDRED YEARS! SAKURA, I CAN'T BELIEVE—"

"Tenten, quit it," Sasuke hissed, breaking the crazy girl away from the now dizzy Sakura.

"SAKURA-CHAN?!"

"Idiot, don't get near—" Sasuke trailed off once his threat became something futile to voice out; Naruto tackled Sakura into a bear hug and dropped them both to the ground (if Sakura was able to, she'd see his rabbit-tail shaking excitedly from side to side). Glaring, Sasuke kicked him off her and, gently, helped her back up to her feet.

"Sakura," the last of the three psychos was now up and leaning against the edge of the table, his tail twitching from side to side, "it's great to have you back – Sasuke was becoming unbearable to deal with."

Sasuke growled, "Will you all _quit it_."

And all this time, Sakura was wondering why they said _"have you back" _and… They knew the old Sakura. They knew (or thought; Sakura still wasn't sure where she stood with this all) she was the reincarnation of the Sakura that was killed by the White Queen a hundred years ago. With that in mind, she managed to give them all a weak smile.

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"Are you _crazy_," The Hatter hissed at The Cheshire Cat, eyes narrowing down into slits. "_Why _did you bring her here, Cheshire Cat?! You know it's _dangerous _for Alice to be in the Valley of the End!"

The Cheshire Cat's eyes narrowed down as well, glaring at the shorter brunette, "It's dangerous for her to be in Konoha as well, and you know that."

She shook her head in anger, turning to look as The March Hare and The Dormouse entertained their new guest; The March Hare kept sitting on a different seat, sometimes making Alice and The Dormouse move along with him. Alice looked all confused yet, she seemed to be having a great time; sometimes a smile would escape her or a fit of giggles, and then she'd glare when The March Hare made her switch seats. The Dormouse didn't care for anything – he just wanted to sip his tea.

The Hatter took her hat off and scratched at her itch, "Cheshire Cat… The White Queen was here. She'll come back, and when she sees Alice…"

"She won't see her," The Cheshire Cat stated. "She won't. We'll… we'll hide her – take her to the Queen of Hearts. We'll do anything."

A sympathetic look appeared on her features as she placed a hand on The Cheshire Cat's shoulder, "I know… But … The White Queen _will _start a war for this. It's like one hundred years ago all over again. And—"

"What about you? The other idiots," he was back to glaring at the distance, "What did she do to you guys?"

She waved it all off, "Bah, she just threatened us with feeding us to her oversized beast… But she's out looking for you."

He shook his head, his cat-ears twitching in annoyance. "We're going to have to go talk to the Queen of Hearts."

Sighing, The Hatter placed her hat back on her head and turned to stare at the other three. Alice was important to The Cheshire Cat, she knew – _very _important; what happened so long ago was something that caused him to be colder than he was by default. Finding Alice again… The Hatter puckered her lips; no, Sasuke's been sneaking to Konoha for the past eighteen years, he probably found her long ago. But… The Mad Hatter glanced at The Cheshire Cat watching him watch Alice… The Hatter will be damned if she allowed history to repeat itself twice, as cliché as it sounded.

"Fine," she said, "We'll talk to the Queen of Hearts. We'll protect her… For _you_."

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They were weird, Sakura decided – Naruto, Neji and Tenten; they were _weird_. And crazy, and psychotic and _funny_.

"Let's have some tea," Naruto's loud voice boomed. It's as if all they had been doing since they arrived was just horsing around; all the tea he and Neji had forced down her throat… All the seat changing and the butter-less bread ("Shhhh, don't tell Tenten about there being no butter, she'll go _nuts_!") and _how _is she going to put up with this all?

Tenten twirled to her seat, her tutu-skirt making swishing noises as she went. She took her seat on the recliner at the head of the table. Naruto hopped to a random seat while Neji remained on his stool on Tenten's left. Sasuke wordlessly walked to the seat on her right. And so, Sakura found herself cautiously taking the seat next to his. Because Sasuke seemed the sanest (Neji didn't count; how much tea could someone drink before they puked?) of the four and Sakura was slightly terrified. Just slightly, though.

"A very merry unbirthday!" Tenten cheered, clapping her hands and pouring some tea from a tea-pot with three spouts instead of one.

"A…_what_?"

Grinning, Tenten turned to look at Sakura. "A very merry unbirthday! It's my unbirthday today!"

"Really," Sakura questioned with a smile.

Still grinning, Tenten shook her head, "No. But it can be, and so it is! Because everything it isn't, it is and everything it is, it's not. You see?"

Blinking, Sakura nodded her head slowly, even if she didn't have a clue about what Tenten was talking about. Clearing her throat, she glanced at Sasuke with a look that clearly stated "hi, yeah, I need help in trying to not freak out here"; Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and snorted.

Once the tea was poured for all the occupants of the table, Tenten passed around breads, placing them on their plates; visibly, Naruto began to shake, his blue-eyes-with-the-dilated-pupils darting from Neji to Sasuke to Sakura to Tenten and then back. Neji grew stiff, his eyes opening and staring at Tenten expectantly. Sasuke looked unperturbed, but Sakura decided that Sasuke must always look this way and therefore the reactions to the other two was more believable and thus began to grow shaky.

"Pass the butter, please," Tenten said with a smile.

Sakura watched as the three boys went stiff. They seemed to be no help at all so she searched the elongated table for any source of butter, "There's no butter here—"

"SHHH—" The Dormouse's eyes snapped open.

"SAKURA-CHAN, NO—" The March Hare pulled at his ears.

"Shhh—" The Cheshire Cat glared.

Suddenly, Sakura froze. _Shhh, don't tell Tenten about there being no butter, she'll go _nuts_! _Butter-less bread. No butter. Bread, but no butter. Suddenly Sakura decided that she understood the expression 'open mouth, insert foot'. Wide eyed, she watched as Tenten's cheery mood switched to something dark and ominous and eerie; she had lowered her head, hat covering her face as her shoulders shook. Sakura's never wanted to slap herself as much as she did right then.

"NO BUTTER?! WHAT THE HELL, NO BUTTER?!"

"Tenten," Neji said, placing a soothing hand on her trembling shoulder and Sakura watched, transfixed, as the mad girl calmed down before she even had the chance to go on a rampage.

They all sighed as Tenten smiled at them all.

"Woopsies."

Naruto jumped off his seat, a tea-cup in his grasp. "GOD, TENTEN, YOU'RE GOING TO _KILL_—" it's here that he threw the tea-cup with all his might "—ME WITH YOUR MOODSWINGS!"

Before anything could be retorted back by a now chirpy Tenten, they (excluding Sakura because, dammit, she was _lost_) all froze when a loud, low and menacing growl was heard just as soon as the tea-cup was heard shattering. Sakura watched as Naruto, wide-eyed, turned to Tenten and then to Sasuke; Neji stared off into the distance with a blank face while Tenten looked like she was going to blow up… again. Sasuke took a firm grasp of her forearm and lifted her up.

"Quick," Tenten shouted, "grab the potion! Give it to Sakura! Hurry!"

Naruto and Neji jumped on top of the table as they searched for the tea-pot that held the potion. They threw things all over the place as they searched; Neji stopped about three times to sip at some tea, Naruto looked more of a crack-head than before as he became anxious, throwing the useless things with all his strength.

"What's going on," Sakura frantically demanded. She turned to Sasuke who continued to have a firm grip of her arm, his narrowed eyes staring towards the direction where Naruto had thrown the first chinaware, "Sasuke, answer me! What's going on?!"

"I FOUND IT!"

"No, I found it!"

"NEJI HAND ME THE DAMN THING! I FOUND IT FIRST!"

"Let go of it, Naruto!"

Sakura watched as Naruto and Neji fought for the teapot, both with glares as they yanked the thing back and forth. And then her attention switched to the distance – another growl, closer now, was heard. Tenten, jumped onto the table and stomped towards the fighting boys. "There's no time for that, idiots! Give it to Sakura! Sasuke, make her drink that _now_. She's _here_. Hurry up!"

The teapot was handed to Sasuke and, with speed, Sasuke dipped Sakura and poured the contents into her mouth just as soon as she opened it to protest. Sakura's eyes widened as she had no other choice but to swallow the liquid. She was promptly standing erect again and she opened her mouth, again, to yell in fury… before she suddenly felt a warm tingle flow through her body.

Naruto, Neji, Tenten and Sasuke watched anxiously as she began to shrink down, down, down, down until she was about three inches tall. Sasuke, being the one closest to her, picked her up and raised her up to his face's level. Sakura was furious, "You _ass_! What have you _done _to me?! I'm so fucking _short_! I…I—"

"Sakura, there's no time for that," Tenten said, extending her hand, "Hand her to me, Sasuke. Well, hurry up!"

Reluctantly, Sasuke did as she said, watching as Tenten shoved Sakura into the closest sugar-pot… They all jumped in shock when Akamaru's loud bark resounded around them, the harsh gust of wind his snarl made making their clothes and hairs dance with the air.

Tenten gave them all a firm nod and fixed her stare onto the carriage that came to a halt in back of the beast.

"Ah," she was grinning now, "The Duchess and The White Queen. Back so soon? I knew you couldn't resist us."

"You're _not _funny at all, Hatter, and frankly, you're beginning to get on my nerves," The White Queen said in her shrilly voice as she walked towards them. "Ah, Cheshire Cat…"

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From within the sugar-pot she was shoved into, Sakura shook with tremor, confusion, betrayal and anger.

She knew that voice. She knew it _so well_. It's the voice she had always laughed with, the voice she trusted most…

…The voice of Ino.

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love meeee!

review! :D


	4. painting flowers

**dedication: **TO SARA. BECAUSE SHE'S AMAZING, HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED.  
**disclaimer: **i don't own a lot of things. and "child of my heart" is copyrighted by sara. :D**  
notes: **and i is back. also. i hate chemistry with every fiber of my being. i _hate _it. if it were human, i'd shred it to pieces. anyway. thank you for the reviews, guys!

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The Mad Hatter glared as The White Queen stared at The Cheshire Cat as if he were a piece of meat; it angered her that this woman-girl was so… so interested in her friend without even _knowing _him. Did she know that he was a picky eater and did not like bread and butter? Did she know he slept on the highest tree-branch, curled up like a cat?

She knew nothing about The Cheshire Cat and yet she yearned for him as if she did.

"So," she cut in before the woman-girl could go off and annoy her friend, "what do we owe this visit to, M'lady? Is it tax day?"

The Queen's attention switched towards The Hatter and she automatically frowned. "Stop joking or it'll be your head."

"Ah, but see, only The Queen of Hearts has the honor and right to behead us wonderful citizens of the Valley of the End," The Hatter retorted with nonchalance. She was not, and will not be, afraid of The White Queen. No, fear was definitely _not _what she felt towards the woman-girl.

"_RUN, KEEP RUNNING. KEEP RUNNING!"_

Blazing hazel eyes studied the woman-girl as said woman-girl studied her. She will admit: The White Queen was very attracting – very beautiful. The kind of beautiful that made you do a double take, made your jaw fall open, made you want to stare on forever. She was gorgeous… The Hatter raised an eyebrow as she watched the ice-blue eyes of The White Queen ignite with fire, her perfectly pouty lips wrinkling with a tight and heavy frown.

"_ANKO? ANKO, WHERE ARE YOU?"_

She was gorgeous, but she was evil.

Yet, The Hatter did not feel fear towards her. She did not quake at the mere syllable of her name, at the mere sight of her. She did not run and hide. She didn't, because she wasn't afraid. And she didn't want to be afraid of her. She didn't want to befriend her, either.

"_ANKO, ANSWER ME…. PLEASE! PLEASE, WHERE ARE YOU?"_

All The Mad Hatter wanted from her was revenge.

"_ANKO!"_

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**Always Running  
Out of Time**

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Sakura was deathly quiet, her back firmly, flatly against the cold glass of the sugar-pot. She trembled, gnawed at her lower lip as she tried to hear anything that was being exchanged from outside.

But everything was silent – Tenten was not mouthing off to… to… Ino? Was it Ino? Was it really her?

Why was she here?

…If this was Ino – _her _Ino, the Ino she was friends with for so long… the Ino she did not know anything about other than her living alone in that white house… That she left Konoha frequently to visit her parents who, because of work schedules and location, lived out of Konoha.

A newfound anger began to boil deep within her stomach as she realized, up until then, that those words and those "facts" were _absurd_. Ino was _seventeen_ (right….?) and a minor (right…?) and therefore not allowed to live on her own. Not yet. Why hadn't Sakura realized this sooner?

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong, and Sakura wanted to figure it all out. She wanted answers, and being as intelligent as she knew she was, she knew that no one was going to willingly give her any. So she was going to have to find out herself.

Blinking, she realized that she was about five inches tall…

…She was going to find some answers… when she was back to her normal size.

Right.

"You're losing it, Sakura," she hissed to herself, "You're losing it. You… I actually believe this? I believe in… in… size-changing drinks… in boys with cat ears and cat tails and rat tails and… hyperactive, tea drinking, butter obsessed… I… I believe… I do… Don't I?"

She slumped, one of her shaking hands coming to grab the fabric of her shirt as her attempt to calm her fast-beating heart. Sakura stiffened once she heard the new conversation… a conversation about _her_.

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"I heard Alice is back in the Valley of The End," The White Queen hissed.

The Mad Hatter narrowed her eyes, ignoring how The Dormouse and The March Hare stiffened and how The Cheshire Cat shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks, his eyes distant as he stared at one of the many, many trees. The Hatter always took it upon herself to get them all out of the sticky situations they – The Cheshire Cat – got them in; because, though she was not the only brains of the group, she was the one that actually _liked _to talk. The Cheshire Cat and The Dormouse were more of the… fist-speak-for-me kind of guys. And The March Hare… The March Hare wrecked havoc on anything without him even knowing, or intending to.

"Of course not," she responded lightly. She fingered one of her two pigtails, her other hand coming to rest on her hip, "You took care of Alice yourself, one hundred years ago – just in case you didn't remember, M'lady."

Satisfaction filled her as she watched The Duchess grow stiff, silver eyes widening and darting to The White Queen. But there was no response from her. She looked as icy and heartless as she ever did. The Hatter hated her; she hated her beauty, she hated her coldness, she hated her obsession with her friend, she hated how she hurt so much people without a care in the world.

She hated her because she took Anko away from her.

"That is the past and will stay in the past," The Queen said, "but know this, I will repeat my actions if she is here…" She froze and then gave them all an icy-cold smile, blue eyes glittering with something The Hatter did not like. "Hm. You… wouldn't mind if I," she petted Akamaru's white fur, "let Akamaru sniff around here wouldn't you? Just, you know, to check that my lovely _citizens _are not lying to me."

The Hatter stiffened and relaxed – all in a blink of an eye. She shrugged, "You're the queen, aren't you? What you say goes, so why ask me?"

The White Queen smirked as she murmured some things to the beast. The Mad Hatter watched with careful eyes as the beast began to near them; The Cheshire Cat finally snapped back to attention, his dark eyes following Akamaru's every move. The Dormouse and The March Hare remained stiffened, their rigidness growing once the beast passed them.

The Hatter acted. She grabbed the sugar-pot in which Alice was stuffed into and, seeming as casual as she could be, she took the small top off and tipped it over her cup of tea. "Ah, you wouldn't mind me sipping on some tea, would you, Your Highness? It is my unbirthday and I'd like to celebrate!"

She inwardly sighed as she heard the small splash of Alice's body falling into the cool liquid of her tea. The White Queen ignored her, instead having her eyes follow her pet as it sniffed and sniffed and sniffed – sometimes even allowing them to slide towards The Cheshire Cat, if just for five seconds.

Whining, Akamaru went back to his perch in between both his masters, his feral snout wrinkled in displeasure at failing his mistress. The White Queen rubbed at his fur again, eyes narrowed.

"So, you speak the truth," she commented lightly, "We'll see for how long, though."

And she turned around and walked back to her carriage. The Duchess hesitated for a second, light eyes staring at the foursome with minor distaste and something else. Shaking her head she turned around and went on her way.

The Mad Hatter watched them go, silently promising revenge.

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Sakura did _not _know what happened; one minute she was straining – and panicking – to listen to Ino and Tenten talk… and the next, she was dumped into a cup of _tea_. These people were _so _rude, she was so _soaked_ and… and… she probably smelled like… lemon, or something. What would Sasuke think… Not that she cared; it's just that… whatever.

She broke the surface of the liquid, flapping her arms and gasping for air. She shook her head, slapping her bangs out of the way. Snapping her green eyes open, she glared at the nearest person – Tenten.

"Ex_cuse _me! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT! I'M SO WET NOW – WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO CHANGE INTO? I… I CAN GET SICK OR SOMETHING!"

"Hush now, Sakura," the brunette said, taking a careful grasp of her in between her thumb and pointer finger. "Everything will soon be cleared up."

Sakura blinked her eyes and slapped the lingering tea out of her face. She glared and flapped her tank-top, wringing it so that any excess liquid would drop out; but that left her top all wrinkly and… Sakura was now feeling ugly because, like, seriously – this was her _shirt_! "I'm expecting to be given extra clothes – and I'd like to go back to my normal size, yeah? I mean, I'm short by default, but this is beyond all that!"

Tenten bit at the inside of her cheek, "Sakura, I'm afraid you can't go back to your normal height. Not for right now, at least."

This brought a heavy unease that Sakura felt deep within her stomach; her arms dropped limply to the side, her face going blank with dread. "Wh-why do you say that? Am I going to die? I'm going to die aren't I? Oh god, this sucks major ass."

Snorting, Tenten rolled her eyes. "No, silly. I just don't have any growing-cookies. And because the White Queen's on the lookout for you… but it's mostly for the first reason."

Sakura managed to let out an indignant gulp. Her green eyes traveled towards Naruto who, still looking absolutely hyperactive, still managed to look worried; his scruffy appearance looked all the more scruffy – his white polo was wrinkled, the neck to it sticking up, sleeves folded to his elbows. The black vest he wore over it was unbuttoned and his black slacks were loose. Sakura, through the new dread she felt, managed to admire his ruffled, wild blond hair.

Shakily, she turned to look at Neji. He was as rigid as a board, his facial expression blank. Neji was very good looking, Sakura decided then. His features were sharp, aristocratic nose, thin lips, gorgeous eyes, silk-looking hair. He was tall, and more well dressed than Naruto; he had a dark gray button up shirt – buttoned up well, sleeves pushed halfway up his forearm. But, unlike Naruto who looked like he was breaking at the seams (by pulling at his ears until Sakura worried they'd come right off) – Neji looked composed… _too _composed.

And Sasuke? Sasuke looked blank and bored. Out of all of them, he was the one that rarely spoke, rarely moved (his swaying tail and his flapping ears did not count). His black button-up was perfectly clean, as were his black slacks – he always managed to look so poised, so clean, so ready for anything… Sakura admired and loathed it all the same.

Speaking of Sasuke… He plucked her right out of Tenten's grip, lifting her up so that he could get a good view of her. "Tenten," he said, darting his dark eyes towards the brunette, "why don't you make an outfit for her? She's terribly wet."

From this closeness, Sakura could see sparks of red in his dark eyes – they looked so black… so dark and unfathomable and… _beautiful_, she found herself saying to herself. To find the red sparks in his eyes, you have to look closely… Something that Sasuke didn't seem to allow. Sakura's heart picked up as he placed her on his palm – and then he handed her back to Tenten.

"Once she's dressed again, I'll take her to the Queen of Hearts," he said.

Neji seemed to relax, "She will be safe with Her. Much safer than she is here with us."

Naruto nodded vigorously.

Tenten, though, seemed to narrow her eyes. But she didn't speak; instead, she concentrated in taking her at off and placing Sakura in it. Sakura wasn't able to watch as Tenten whipped up a brown top, cream colored trousers and even a dark belt to go with it. She was handed these materials, putting them on and then looking down at herself with mild curiosity. The top was almost leathery as it stuck to her body, the sleeves loose and long – she managed to pull them up to her elbows. The trousers were stuck to her legs as well, ending just at her ankles. The outfit looked complete as she buckled the belt loosely around her waist – yet it looked ridiculous with her red converses. Sakura sighed and ran her hand through her hair… only to find out that it was limp and sticky and stringy – Sakura cursed loudly.

"Sakura?" Tenten's face appeared over the top of the hat, "I'll just have a word with Sasuke and then I'll get you right out of there."

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"I'll go see the Queen of Hearts."

The Cheshire Cat glared, "Don't be ridiculous – I'll go see Her."

The Hatter shook her head and glared heavily. She turned towards where The Dormouse and The March Hare sat on the elongated table, already sipping on their teas as if nothing happened. Running a hand through her bangs she bit at the inside of her cheek, " I don't want you to burden yourself with everything that is going to happen. Because something _is_ going to happen, there is no doubt in that. So let us help you – we're your friends."

This time, it was him shaking his head. "It's not that, Hatter. I brought Alice here… Alice is here because of me—" _for me_ "—and I'll take care of her. You'll stay here with the Idiot and The Dormouse."

"I can't believe you—"

"You know what could happen if The Dormouse sleeps. And you know if he snaps, The March Hare will too. You'll handle them, and I'll handle this."

She glared all the more. "Why are you always using that excuse? You're so set on not letting us help! Cheshire Cat, if this is because of what happened _one hundred _years ago – let it go… I don't blame you. I don't resent you, so let me _help _you!"

"Hatter, please." He ran a hand through his dark hair, his cat-ears twitching in annoyance. "This is just something _I _have to do. I'm going to talk to the Queen of Hearts, I'll leave Alice there and when I get the confirmation, I'll come back for you guys."

Sighing and slumping her shoulders, she gave a defeated nod. Once The Cheshire Cat's mind was made up, there was no way in changing his decision. She knew that and she hated that fact – but he wouldn't be The Cheshire Cat if he were any other way. Just how he wasn't himself without Alice. She pursed her lips and pouted, "Fine. I trust you."

She rolled her eyes when he patted her head and said, "Good."

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"Where are you taking me," Sakura shouted at Sasuke. She was on his head, her small five-inch-sized hands grabbing on to his cat-ears for dear life as he sped off towards a direction she did not even know about.

His speed was almost inhuman – but what else would she expect? He had a cat-tail and cat-ears! Sakura's hair flew behind her, whipped at her face and mixed with the fur on his ears. She trembled, her teeth chattering against each other; but, she thought, it wasn't because she was afraid (not as much, at least) but more because of the adrenaline and the cold air whipping at her.

"Sasuke—"

"We're going to go see someone," she heard him murmur.

In a way, Sakura thought his tone left no room for discussion or conversation. But then she thought back about the short amount of time she's spent with Sasuke and realized that that was just the way Sasuke's tone was by default. And again, she began to question – how could someone like her have ever loved someone like him? They were completely different – yin and yang. He was dark and mysterious, and aloof and indifferent – she's gone through this… hasn't she?

Growling in deep annoyance with herself, Sakura closed her eyes and just _breathed_. In and out, in and out, in and out; she was sucked into the motion of Sasuke's legs moving them forwards – his running; his sprinting… it was as if she was flying. She felt high up in the sky as she rode on his head with her eyes closed. She smiled and she was tempted to let go of his ears, but the she'd fly off and who knows what'd happen then.

Slowly, she opened them again and watched as trees upon trees upon trees passed her by – she couldn't even see if they had faces, like the other ones. And soon, the green and brown of the trees were gone and all Sakura could see was dirt and something that reminded her so much of sand-dunes – as if they were crossing a dry, rocky desert. The sky was as clear as anything Sakura had ever seen before; bright, clear blue that reminded her of Ino's eyes and how they'd glitter with all the smiles and laughter they shared.

But then… all those smiles and laughter were fake… weren't they?

Sakura didn't know what to think anymore; the thought of Ino betraying her, breaking their friendship – if it ever was even that – made a choking sadness weigh her down and the sudden need to cry was so damn tempting. But Sakura vowed she wouldn't cry… At least not while she was here, with Sasuke.

"I'll grow back to my normal size, won't I," she asked him, her voice a soft whisper. But he heard her, she knew he did.

"Of course," he said and Sakura allowed herself to pretend his voice was compassionate and caring.

She remained silent for the rest of their travel; she sighed and sighed every single time more dry-rocky-ness passed them by… Until _finally _green appeared. Green and red. And almost instantly Sakura thought of Christmas. But it wasn't anything remotely similar to Christmas.

They were all rosebushes. Rosebushes with red roses. No other color, just red.

Sasuke's speed slowed, if just a tiny bit; but his slowing down allowed her to catch glimpses of men, dressed in red armor with black numbers on their backs, painting white roses into red. Every rosebush with white roses was being worked on – being painted red. Sakura didn't understand… but she _did _like red…

"Wh-where are we," she whispered.

Sasuke didn't answer, though.

"Why are they painting the roses red?"

"Because red is Her favorite color."

"Who are they – who is 'She'?"

"Sakura," Sasuke said and she gasped and quickly released his twitching ear. He was annoyed. "Just… be quiet and wait. Everything at its time."

But she abided with remaining silent, allowing the questions to pool up in her head as he led them down a bridge; this…place had a _moat_. Looking up and away from the crystal-clear river surrounding the place, Sakura's breathing hitched at the sight of the… _castle_. Sakura's always wanted to see a castle – she didn't even know they existed; all Konoha had were skyscrapers and condos and villas and houses and more of each.

But then again, she was in the Valley of the End – this place was by far different from Konoha. And this castle was gorgeous. It was white and red; white walls, white towers and red roofs and red flags and red accessories. Around the castle was a white gate that stood so tall, Sakura couldn't even _think _about looking over it. The doors to the gates were white as well and in the center of it was a grand, red heart; a half of the heart on each door that when opened, Sakura guessed, a broken half was on either one.

Sasuke came to a stop right in front of the closed doors and Sakura marveled at the fact that he didn't even seem out of breath. The doors opened a crack and a figure stepped through it; he was dressed in the red armor and as he neared them, Sakura noticed the 7 marked on his cheeks, on his left breast and something told her that – like the others – it was on his back as well. He didn't wear those tin-things on his head, she mused, and she could see his shot of onyx-black hair and his onyx-black eyes and his paper-white skin.

"What do you want," he said and his tone was as emotionless as Sasuke. Actually, Sasuke's sounded livelier next to this guy's. And he was so _rude_.

She heard Sasuke growl deep within his throat. "I'm here to see the Queen of Hearts."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"You don't need an appointment to see the Queen of Hearts. Stop fucking around."

"Ah, but you need an appointment now. It's a new rule She's come up with and we must abide to it or it's off with our heads."

"Let me through."

The knight tilted his head, his eyes moving away from Sasuke's irritated facial expression to the top of his head. And that's when he saw Sakura, sitting right at the crown of his head a hand holding either of his ears. He raised his eyebrows and stared; she figured that's as much of a shocked face as she was going to get.

"Is that… Sakura?"

"Hn."

"Oh, well then. This changes everything. She always liked Sakura. Come along then." He stiffly turned towards the wall and with his hands crossed behind him, he walked inside. Sasuke followed.

Sakura couldn't help but gasp (the whole thing Seven – as she now called him – said about this queen liking her went right through her) at the sight of what was inside of the large and glorious gates. Everything, as she had seen from a distance, was red and white. And right at the center, there was an enormous heart made out of the walls themselves; it took Sakura several minutes to stop wondering how they got the concrete to bend like that.

She stared in awe as they passed a grand garden – green and red, like Christmas. There weren't men painting the roses red here; they were already red. Seven led them in through some doors, nodding at the two men standing watch on either side of them. Once inside Sakura's attention drifted towards the new color; red, white and black. There were pillars, all in rows, as red as blood with gold trimmings. Chandeliers dangling from high above were gold and the light they gave off was gold; the walls were a dark gray and there were hearts in between and on every glass-stained window.

In short, she decided, the place was beautiful.

"Hn," Sasuke said and she soon realized that she had murmured her thoughts out loud.

Soon, Sakura was able to hear music – loud and… it sounded as if there was a party going on. And as they neared the music only became louder and louder; some sort of pop music without lyrics, just the fast beat that made you want to dance and dance and never stop. Seven knocked on the door once, clear and loud. A second later the door was cracked open and a head popped in; it was another guy, this one with silver-white hair and amethyst eyes and pale skin. He was also dressed in a red armor, but his had no number – not even on his cheeks.

"What," he said.

"The Cheshire Cat is here. And he has brought Sakura along with him."

The other boy's eyes widened and he closed the door for five seconds – Sakura soon heard, over the loud music, a shrilly voice booming, "WHAT? LET THEM IN, YOU IDIOT. LET THEM IN, LET THEM IN!"

The door was opened again and the guy with the gorgeous eyes appeared again and ushered them all in, "Sai, add more force around the castle – one must be cautious now that Sakura is here."

"Yes Captain," Seven – Sai – said. And then he left.

Sakura's eyes darted all over the grand room, the pillars and the chandelier and the glass-stained windows and the hearts – it was all here as well. But there was also a red carpet that led to a throne. And standing in front of the throne was a girl, hands on her hips and head tilted to the side. Sakura gasped at her beauty; she wore a red corset with black lace and a short black-leather skirt… with thigh high black boots. She had a black choker with a medium sized heart made out of rubies. And her hair was a bright crimson-red, and her eyes, behind the black glasses she wore were red as well.

She was _gorgeous._

The music was cut off and from a small door, a man appeared. He was dressed in the same crimson armor that all the other soldier-knights had. His, like the guy with purple-eyes, didn't have any numbers. His hair was shaggy and a dark brown and his eyes a dark charcoal. He came to a stop on the left side of the girl while the guy with the purple-eyes took his spot on the right side.

Sakura felt completely intimidated and with the urge to party all at once.

"Sakura!" The woman shrieked, her maroon-lipstick-colored lips breaking into a wide grin. And then she blinked and scanned Sasuke, "Sasuke… Where is Sak—oh! There she is!"

She ran down the four steps that leveled her throne high (to look down at her subjects, Sakura supposed) and ran until she was right in front of Sasuke. With a smirk, she raised her hands and moved Sasuke's unruly hair out of the way and then gently grabbed Sakura. She brought her up to her face and giggled, "Sakura! Oh god, it's been so long!"

Sasuke kneeled for a second before he was back to his full height, "The White Queen is suspicious."

Sakura stared at the Queen of Heart's (…this _was _her… right?) expression froze a millisecond before going back to smiling-smirking, "Oh. Well, then. That matters not!" She twirled around him and began to walk-glide-dance (it was hard to differ what she was doing – she was so graceful and… Sakura was now jealous) towards the door she and Sasuke had just entered. "I will be back soon; I'll give Sakura one of my growing-cookies… And change her out of these horrid clothing! Kiba, Suigetsu, keep the Cheshire Cat company while I bring back his woman all better dressed… and more of his height."

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Sakura watched, sitting Indian style on a counter, as the Queen of Hearts twirled around the kitchen and towards the far counter on the other side of the kitchen. She opened a jar and stuck a dainty hand inside; what she took out looked like a nice sugar-cookie that Sakura wouldn't have mind eating. She watched as The Queen twirled back towards her, handing her the cookie and then clapping her hands together.

She stared at it, reading the frosted letters that read "Eat Me" and then she shrugged and took a bite. And then the tingling feeling going through her body was back and Sakura gasped as her limbs grew and she was back to her normal height. She jumped off the counter and, to her dismay, she was shorter than the Queen.

The Queen gasped, "Oh!"

"What? Is something—"

"It's as bad as I thought! Come now, Sakura, we _must _get you out of those clothes!"

Sakura blinked as her arm was seized and she was dragged out of the kitchen and towards a long hall and into a room. Soon, she realized that the room wasn't a _room _per say, but a _closet_ filled with _clothes_. "U-um.. Your High—"

"Karin!" The girl corrected. "Call me Karin. We're friends, Sakura," she paused and pursed her lips, "Well… The Sakura from one hundred years ago was my friend. But you and I… We're gonna connect faster than connect the dots!"

She appeared out of one of the many doors that she had stepped into while she spoke, a pair of… something that Sakura could not really differ in her hands. Karin stepped closer to her and handed her the garment and as Sakura took it, her eyes widened as she realized that it was _leather_. _Black _leather.

"Put these on, Child of my Heart," she said as she went off to another door.

Sakura unfolded the thing and blushed at… They were black leather _booty shorts_. "Um… Can I have something a little—"

"Nonsense! Put them on!"

Reluctantly, Sakura disposed of her converses and of the cream colored trousers she was sporting and slid the tiny shorts on. She was in the process of retying the laces of her converses when Karin appeared a purple corset with black edges and she was glad to see that she had brought a black tanktop. "Here," she said, "Put the tanktop on and then I'll help you with the corset."

Sakura obliged and turned around once the corset was around her body. She blinked and huffed and blinked as Karin tied the strings from behind and couldn't help but let a sigh of relief escape her when she was finished. When she turned around, she stared at Karin as the latter scrutinized what Sakura thought was her latest masterpiece.

"Oh, Heavens, no," Karin shook her head, pushing her glasses back up her dainty nose and swatting her crimson hair out of her face, "Those… those _things_," she pointed at Sakura's shoes, "have _got _to go."

She turned around and entered another door; Sakura hoped she didn't come with another pair of thigh-high boots that'd match the ones she was wearing herself. What she did appear with, though, was a pair of black combat boots and stockings-socks-thing that, Sakura estimated, reached just above her knees – a purple one, and a black one. She wordlessly handed them to Sakura and, sighing, the shorter girl kicked her converses and her white socks off and put on what she was given. She was right, the stocking-socks-thing reached just above her knees, and the combat boots, once tied, boosted her height by an inch or two.

Karin nodded in approval, her hands on her hips. "Whoa, eat your Heart out Cheshire Cat – you won't know what hit you! You look amazing, Love." But then her attention went to Sakura's stringy, limp pink hair and she almost shrieked in horror. "_What _happened to you? Come, come, come. We _have _to clean you up!"

And the next thing Sakura knew, her head was being dunked on a tub, washed with shampoo that smelled divine and a conditioner that Sakura assumed would leave her hair silky. Karin soon towel dried the drenched pink locks before blow drying it and brushing it until it fell straight down over Sakura's shoulders.

"There! _Now _you look amazing. Let's go see the Cheshire Cat get a heart attack."

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When they reentered the hall that Sakura and Sasuke had first stepped into, she noticed that the two knights and Sasuke were silently talking. They immediately stopped once the two girls' presence was known and Sakura's cheeks heated up when Suigetsu and Kiba began to whistle and run their eyes up and down their body.

Her blush only increased when she watched Sasuke turn to glare at them before he turned to stare at her again; if she was close enough, she would have heard his gulp, but all she saw was his cat-ears twitching in annoyance and his cat-tail swaying around. And maybe a faint pink on his cheeks.

"Doesn't she look _marvelous_? I'd eat her right up, if I could." Karin giggled. Her red eyes turned to Sasuke, "So… what is going on, Cheshire Cat?"

"The usual, M'lady."

"Ah, the usual as in: The White Queen is still after your tail in her attempts of keeping you as her pet." She nodded her head, her maroon-colored lips pursing, "Well. It's clear that she cannot know that Sakura is back in the Valley of The End. We do not want a repeat of one hundred years ago." _And we don't want to see you go through it all over again, either._

Sasuke gave a solid nod, his spine going stiff as Sakura came to stand next to him. At the moment, Sakura was only comfortable around Sasuke, only trusted him – regardless that Karin seemed like a person Sakura would like a lot. Trust and comfort came in time, right?

"Sakura will stay with me here for now," Karin said, one of her hands at her hips while the other one twirled a lock of her red hair. "I will make sure she is safe. And Suigetsu and Kiba will protect her with their lives, isn't that right boys?"

"Yes, M'lady," Kiba said, a wolfish smile on his lips.

Suigetsu smirked as he gave a solid nod and, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Thank you," Sasuke said and listened closely as Karin instructed him on which room he was to take Sakura. Giving a curt nod, he took Sakura's wrist in his hand and led her towards what Sakura was positive was her new room.

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"You'll stay with me, won't you," Sakura said. She hated the whine she heard in her tone and the nervousness she felt deep in her stomach. She sat on her new bed (crimson-red and heart-shaped) as she watched Sasuke lean against the edge of the window, hands in his pockets and his back to her as he stared out the window.

He turned to stare at her, "Soon, I will."

"You're leaving," she asked, her breathing and her heartbeat picking up. And she decided that this was absolutely _ridiculous_.

Sasuke gave a soft nod, "For now. I have to go back for Tenten and the others."

"Sasuke—"

She gasped when he disappeared and reappeared right in front of her. She looked up at him and she swallowed another gasp as he bent forwards and brushed his lips against hers. She didn't know whether to be angry with herself for wanting more or to swoon at the fact that he kissed her. Again.

"I'll be back, Sakura."

And he dematerialized, and left.

And Sakura was alone in the room.

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in other news, i dislike people that ask to borrow people's plot. they annoy the _muffins _out of me. just thought i'd let that out. and now i'm going to go write some emo poetry for my english class. (AND KARIN IS MY NEW FAVORITE, SHIT-TALK ABOUT HER AND I'LL PIMP SLAP YOU.)

review! :D


	5. in transit

**dedication: **Ehm. To Sara and Allstar for it is my theme song. Also, to soda for giving me constant energy and magical powers. Oh, and my camera. For it is amazing.  
**disclaimer: **i don't own a lot of things. and "child of my heart" is copyrighted by sara. still. :D**  
notes: **after all that crack (which i have become addicted to), i missed SasuSaku. and what better way to write it again than HERE. this story brings me giggles. also, sorry if it's a weird chapter. soda is a powerful weapon. :)

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"Pass the butter," The Mad Hatter lazily commanded. She was slouched in her chair, feet propped up on the table, hat covering her face and her hands rested on her abdomen.

The March Hare and the Dormouse flickered their eyes towards each other and stared. The March Hare was jumpy – he was always jumpy. He shakily grabbed his cup of tea and drank out of it and as pure reflex he threw the glass as hard as he could and he laughed and clapped his hands as he heard it shatter against the tree; just like the other ones before it, always like the other ones before it.

The Dormouse was more composed – he was always composed because he should always be. Bad things happen if he goes to sleep and so he must drink tea, and more tea, and more tea and keep composed because if he doesn't—

Bad things happen if The Dormouse falls asleep.

"Where's the butter," The Mad Hatter emphasized with a bit more force. She lifted her head, moved her hat up her forehead and with hazel-brown eyes growing dark-dark-dark-dark she stared at her comrades. The Mad Hatter makes hats and she's mad-mad-mad-mad. She'll size your head and make you a hat and then she'll grow madder and strike you with her fist of utter fury and then you'll be dead.

Yes, The Mad Hatter is mad.

"There seems to be no butter," The Dormouse muttered, pearl-eyes already taking in as she grew stiff and mad-mad-mad.

"No butter," she whispered, eyes looking on incredulously, "No butter? There's no butter? NO BUTTER. THERE'S NO BUTTER."

The March Hare became more jumpy as he watched her grow mad. He turned his electric-blue eyes to The Dormouse, but he made no move to stop her. The March Hare grabbed a kettle and he threw it. Grabbed the sugar-pot and he threw it. Throw, throw, throw, throw.

But The Dormouse ignored everything as he continued to watch. She was most beautiful when she grew _mad_. Fascination took a hold of him as he watched her, watched her eyes darken and her smile grow wicked, watched her frame shake watched her delicate-looking hands grab on to the brim of her hat and tug it lower on her head and she growled and The Dormouse was fascinated.

"Tell me," The Mad Hatter seethed, hissing through her teeth as her bleak eyes pinned them both. She made to walk, her feet heavy and pounding on the grass. "Tell me," she repeated, "Do you know why the raven is like a writing desk?"

Ah!

There it was! The riddle she was almost never able to say for she only said it when she was _mad_ and she was never allowed to be mad anymore. But there it was. There it was and it was all beautiful.

She was most beautiful when she was mad.

Shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter — "Do you know why the raven is like a writing desk do you know why the raven is like a writing desk TELL ME DO YOU KNOW WHY THE RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING—"

A shape manifested, it was smoke – black and violet and as it took shape it gave off black shoes, black slacks, black button-up shirt and black vest and black hair and black eyes and black-blue-violet cat ears and a black-blue-violet tail and pale-pale-pale skin.

"Stop it," The Cheshire Cat commanded in a soothing voice. And as his blank eyes (_did you know you'd have to be mad to trust the Cheshire Cat?_) turned to The Mad Hatter, she instantly stopped. And as he glared at The March Hare he visibly calmed and as he turned to watch The Dormouse, he composed himself all the more.

"Now, now," he said, a rare grin stretching his lips in ways that were meant to be impossible, "Let us celebrate that we've recuperated Sakura. We've gotten Sakura back." He pocketed his hands in his slacks, "My beloved Alice."

.

.

.

.

**Always**

**...**

**Running**

**...**

**Out**

**...**

**of**

**...**

**Time  
**

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.

"Watch out for The Queen and her Merry Men," The Queen of Hearts crooned as she flailed around her ball room, the pop-music blasting again. She twirled and soared and danced as she continued to chant, "Watch out for The Queen and her Merry Men. Watch out for The Queen and her Merry Men."

Her knights – The Knave of Hearts and his Right Hand Man stood to the side and watched on as they must. The Queen of Hearts has not commanded them to leave or to move and for that they must stay by her side. They watched her danced, watched her flaming-red hair fly as she twirled, watched her crimson eyes glitter as she danced, watched her creamy limbs stretch and glide and –

The Queen of Hearts was beautiful.

But what more do you expect from that?

Sisters – The Queen of Hearts and The White Queen, in beauty and in reigning power – but never in traits.

Amiable, adoring of everything, striving for equality and peace was that of The Queen of Heart.

Coldness, bitterness, obsession and recklessness was that of The White Queen.

Red eyes. Blue eyes.

Red hair. White-blond hair.

Beauty and beauty.

And yet The Knave of Hearts and his Right Hand Man knew that these sisters were destined to clash. It's been one-hundred years overdue. And The Queen of Hearts was as deadly as she was friendly.

"Watch out for The Queen and her Merry Men."

.

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.

Sakura sighed for the nth time as she lay on the heart-shaped bed. Her green eyes were glued on the roof (redredred), her arms outstretched on either side of her and her legs dangling-swinging-kicking at the edge of the bed.

Sakura wondered.

Was it right to have agreed so hastily? Was the Ino from her world and the Ino here the same? Could she truly trust Sasuke? Tenten? Naruto… Neji?

Could she trust Karin?

Maybe she should leave.

But how could she, if she didn't know the way? How could she, if she passed out just as soon as she and Sasuke dipped into the portal?

No, if she wanted to leave – if she wanted to leave she should soon crush that want because there couldn't be a way for her to escape The Valley of the End.

Sighing, Sakura curled into a ball and she closed her eyes and slept.

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.

"_You shouldn't be so hasty," The Duchess reprimanded in her soft voice. Ink-black hair fell in a torrent of straight strands down her back, choppy bangs falling in front of her eyes and mixing with her long, voluminous lashes. There was a slight pink tint to her cheeks to enhance her anger and The White Queen has never felt so jealous._

_Why couldn't __**she **__be that gorgeous? Why couldn't __**her **__voice be as soft? Why couldn't __**her **__cheeks tint that soft pink?_

_Why did The Cheshire Cat not love __**her **__but instead that dreadful __**ALICE**__?_

_The White Queen shook in fury as she continued to pace the length of her throne room. Her white gown fwished and fwashed as she walked, her heels clank-clank-clanking, her blue eyes narrowing and her lips pursing._

"_She's here," she let out in her shrilly tone._

"_Hm," The Duchess inquired._

"_She's Here, Duchess – she's __**HERE**__! Why is she here! Why does she have to keep coming back – this is __**my **__land! This is __**my **__world! I RULE HERE. Why does she continue to come and want to take away what is rightfully __**mine**__?" _

_The Duchess stared at her with ominously soft pearl-eyes, her expression never breaking as The White Queen shrieked and ranted. "Honestly, are you listening to yourself? You sound like you're five. But you can't be five any more, White Queen. Tell me – if you do succeed in killing Alice once again, how will you get to her one hundred years from now? Hmm?"_

"_SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP. I'll do it all over again, Duchess," The White Queen hissed, "I'll kill her. I'll sacrifice my men. I'll kill my sister's men. I'll do everything. I'll do everything again, again, and again until The Cheshire Cat is __**mine**__."_

_And she stalked out of the room._

"_Pity," The Duchess said to herself, crossing her arms in front of her chest and staring on with her soft-soft-soft eyes as the door vibrated after being slammed, "Pity, pity, pity. Such a beautiful girl and such awful attitude. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Does she not know?"_

_Whirling around, she made towards another door, leading towards the courtyard. Her heels clanked-clanked-clanked as she walked, her gown floating around her. The Duchess was elegant, composed, soft-soft-soft and delicate. But she was fierce and she was strong and she grew tired; it's been one-hundred years and still no change._

"_Does she not know? That The Cheshire Cat is as sinister and tricky as they come?"_

.

.

.

.

The Cheshire Cat was very popular with the ladies – whether he'd like it or not. His suave way of speaking and his demeanor of not caring about anything made them swoon and faint and want more, more, more, more. His looks, that of a seventeen-year-old male and that of a cat, made him irresistible; one twitch of his ears and one sway of his tail and the girls were drooling.

But all that was a distraction.

For the Cheshire Cat is the most dangerous of them all. It's not The Mad Hatter with her iron-fists and her mad-mad-mad temper. It's not The Dormouse with his stinging tail and his swordsmanship. It's not The March Hair with his dead-on aim and his jumping abilities. And it's not The Queen of Hearts with her Merry Men or the White Queen and her soldiers.

It was the Cheshire Cat.

With the nature of a trickster, his never ending knowledge about absolutely everything (and anything) he is to know, his wit, and his speed – he could have you in the palm of his hands. He's cruel and he's twisted and he has no sympathy. Where was the sympathy for him when he lost his precious Alice? Where was the White Queen's sympathy when she killed her?

The Cheshire Cat shows no one any sympathy – no one is safe for he is manipulative, devious and conniving and he'll get rid of you when he finds it fit. He won't do it right then and there. He'll watch. He'll plan. He'll wait. And when he gets you, you won't even realize it until you're _dead_.

(But did you know that he sleeps in the highest tree branch, curled up like a cat with his tail wrapped around him and his ears flapping down? Did you know he likes warm milk in the morning and that he cuddles like a kitten with selective people?

Because through it all he is part _cat_.)

No one is safe with The Cheshire Cat. No, not Alice. Not his comrades – The Mad Hatter, The Dormouse and The March Hair. He cherishes them the most and they are his closest friends but he knows things about them – he knows the _most _things about them and he might, just might, leak it out if it is for his benefit or if he must have to.

For you have to be mad to trust The Cheshire Cat.

.

.

.

.

_He took his pocket-watch out and frowned._

"_Oh dear. I'm late."_

.

.

.

.

When Sakura woke up, it was already daylight. She felt completely drained and she should really get ready for class—

―She froze as the thought hit her and left. She couldn't get ready for class because she couldn't _go _to class because she wasn't in Konoha anymore. She was in The Valley of the End and she was possibly in danger of being killed and she couldn't go back because she didn't know _how_ and even through all the danger and mystery and _wonder, _she wasn't sure if she _wanted _to go back.

She supposed she was stupid – which was weird, because when Sakura found herself in the middle of chaos and catastrophes, she gave herself really good advice. Okay, so sometimes she rarely went through with these advices – but Sakura was wise. So there really _must _be a reason for her to stick around, let alone _want _to.

Sakura sighed, "I cannot believe I got myself into this mess – wait, wait… yes I can. This is _me – _oh, now I'm talking to myself."

But she _was _feeling a little homesick. And she _did _miss Hermes… Or maybe she was just terribly apprehensive because Sasuke was not around…

Speaking of which!

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She didn't seem to understand what it was about him. Why she was so _lured _by him. Why she felt this need to _trust _him. Sakura thought it was all stupid and lame and not fun and not pretty. But, then the word pretty came into her head and then she automatically thought about Sasuke's face and how pretty it was and then _Sasuke_ was in her head and she began to think of him and it was _lame_.

Growling, she stomped towards the door and yanked it open. She peeked her head out and turned to the left. Then to the right. And then she decided that she had no idea where she should go. So she went left.

She walked down the hall; it was empty aside from the portraits of abstracts involving hearts in some way or another or armors as odes to knights that have died or such. Sakura was entranced as she continued to comically move her head from left to right to left to right to left to right. She had no idea where she was going but Sakura was transfixed.

Continuing to walk, Sakura gazed at the stained-windows that were now the decoration of this hallway. It wasn't the one she walked with Sasuke yesterday, she realized. But she was far too into her surroundings to really think anything else. It was until she came to a stop in front of two grand doors that she completely stopped fangirling.

She tilted her head and debated whether or not to open the doors and see what was on the other side. On one hand, everyone seemed to be testy and edgy about leaving her alone and without someone to watch over her. On the other hand, Sakura was beginning to grow annoyed with being treated like a porcelain doll that could break almost immediately.

And that's why she opened the doors.

.

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.

"_I'm late, I'm late, I'm late," he murmured as he walked at a steady pace. "I'm late for an important date."_

_He fixed his white petticoat and continued on his way._

.

.

.

.

The courtyard was breathtaking, Sakura decided.

There was just so much _green _and it all looked so _healthy_. There were bushes shaped like hearts and red roses and it was gorgeous. Sakura gasped lightly as she stepped outside, green eyes glittering in pure admiration.

Sakura knew she was not supposed to be out here without any supervision – but she couldn't bring herself to care. She walked and walked and continued to walk and admire and get lost in her own world… And then a hand was placed on her arm and she shrieked.

"Sakura," the deep, raspy voice said.

She whirled her head around and caught one of The Queen of Heart's knights – the one with purple eyes. Hadn't she heard Seven call him 'Captain'? Sakura stared at him with wild, bewildered eyes. But he continued to stare at her with hard eyes, a frown on his lips.

"You aren't supposed to be out here by yourself. The Queen will get… bothersome if something is to happen to you."

He began to lead her back inside.

"C'mon. She summoned you." He stopped walking for a second and then shook his head, "That sounded wrong. She asked for you – something about _dancing_."

"I don't like dancing," Sakura said, crinkling her button-nose.

The knight chuckled, "Neither did the other Sakura."

Sakura gnawed on her lip and took a hasty glance towards him. "How," she finally said after much hesitation, "how was she? Was she… really like me?"

"Huh—Oh." He seemed to think about it carefully. One of his canines peeked out, his amethyst eyes peering up at the red ceiling of one of the multiple halls. "Well… She had pink hair, too. And green eyes. And she always did the opposite of what people asked. I don't really know how she made it into The Valley of the End – but… The Cheshire Cat grew a soft spot for her almost instantly. And this is Sasuke we're talking about; he's a complete jerk. And… Well… He just kind of fell in love with her."

Sakura looked towards the checkered tiles of the ground.

"When she was murdered by The White Queen," he continued softly, "The Cheshire Cat went _mad_. Crazier than he already was. All that madness soon drained him and he was just… blank. Like he was only here because he had to. M'lady was worried about him; She's fond of him – She likes cats."

"What do you think would happen to him if I die," Sakura found herself whispering. A knot tangled her insides at the thought of dying – but Sakura refused to show her tremor.

"He… Will probably do some really stupid things," the knight said. "But it's not going to happen."

He turned his ice-purple eyes towards her and Sakura's breath caught in her throat at the intensity they emitted. "We're going to protect you by all means necessary."

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.

.

"Do you know why the raven is like a writing desk," The Mad Hatter asked.

They didn't answer her. They shouldn't answer her – _why _won't they answer her? But she did not grow mad; they probably didn't know the answer. Poor fools – they were all fools because The Mad Hatter hadn't the slightest clue about what the answer could possibly be.

The March Hare took out the long forgotten pocket-watch out of his vest and stared at it with wild, blue eyes. He tilted his head, strands of sun-kissed hair falling in front of his face. And then he placed the pocket-watch on the table and opened it. He stared at the insides, the metals, the screws, the swirly things. And then he grabbed a cup of tea and dropped its contents into it; after, he grabbed a knife filled with grape-jelly

("_HOW CAN THERE BE BREAD IF THERE'S NO BUTTER. WHY IS THERE JELLY IF THERE'S NO BUTTER?_")

and smeared it over the metals.

The Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter and The Dormouse stared on in bemusement.

"What are you doing," The Dormouse asked quietly.

Looking up, The March Hare grinned and closed the pocket-watch and held it up by its chain. "Killing time."

They watched as he stared at it for a quick second before, as infamous as he was, stood from his seat and threw the golden pocket-watch with all his might.

"Well," he said, as he laughed and clapped in joy, "Look how time flies by."

.

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.

"_What's your name?"_

"_Me?" He looked puzzled before he shrugged. Only you couldn't see his shrug due to his armor. "I'm Suigetsu. The Queen of Heart's Main Knight."_

_She stared on in awe._

"_I'm the Knave of Hearts, and I will protect you with all my might, _Alice_."_

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"_Thank you."_

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The White Rabbit's always late ―why could he never get this thing right?

Honestly. How hard could it be to make it to those Lunatics' never-ending Tea Party? And—Oh look, the road has been cut off.

Looks like The White Rabbit will be terribly late.

And it was such an important date.

He heard Sakura was back.

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.

"Is Sasuke going to come today," Sakura asked. She ignored the hope in her tone and just stared at Karin with expectant eyes.

She stopped twirling and dancing and turned to face Sakura, her maroon lips quirked into a gentle smile, her eyes (behind her black specs) glittered as she glided closer. She placed a small hand on Sakura's shoulder and giggled. "Ah, so you're falling for him already!"

"WAH—NO!"

Karin giggled behind a hand and twirled around, "Now, now, now. No need for any denial, Sakura! It's alright; Sasuke is a _charming _man, that conniving Cat!"

Sakura's face now matched The Queen of Heart's hair and she refused to dignify any of this with any sort of answer. "Well, is he?"

Stopping abruptly from her spinning, Karin faced Sakura and her smiling lips continued to smile as she shook her head and said, "No."

"But why—"

"The Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter, The Dormouse and The March Hare are a _very _vital asset to me," Karin said as she curled her fingers together and let her hands fall in front of her. "They are my _spies_, Child of my Heart. Now, now – don't look so down, they _will _come. Just not at the moment. Someone is missing. And once that someone is where he is supposed to be, they will come. Until then, they must stay where they are because they are not _complete_! Not complete, they're not!"

Sakura swallowed and watched Karin continue to dance around her throne room. She didn't understand who or why or what was missing – she didn't understand any of this. What was going on? Sometimes, as smart as she knew she was, she could be so naïve.

But she did wish Sasuke was there. At least she'd feel… _safe_.

"You know," she said softly, "When you speak like that… you sound mad."

Karin continued to twirl before she stopped and with a smile on her lips and her hands in the air and glimmering eyes she stared at her. And she remained like that for what seemed like forever, until she jutted out a hip and tilted her head to the side.

"We're all mad here, Sakura."

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* * *

bahaha. you guys can go ahead and guess who the white rabbit is. SARA STFU. also... i thank you for the amazing reviews. you guys make my world glitter and shimmer and go SHEEN SPARKLE SPARKLE. and i suppose that is all, right?

review! :D


	6. the technicolor phase

**dedication: **toooo Sara. and Sonya. And Ke$ha. And Hollywood Undead and soda. OH AND GLITTER.  
**disclaimer: **i own jack-shit. and "child of my heart" is still, and will forever be copyrighted by Sara.  
**notes: **Thank you so much for the reviews/feedback!

* * *

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The Mad Hatter wasn't always mad – of course not! No one is born mad; you're _made _mad! Actually, The Mad Hatter was a very decent girl; she liked to do certain things, disliked others, she laughed and cried and she yelled and she was _normal_. But then something happened that made The Mad Hatter _snap_.

And then she became something dangerous; something close to a ticking bomb, where you were anticipating the moment where she'd just _explode _and do the most horrible things you could ever imagine. And even then that won't be enough for her. Never enough.

The Mad Hatter's loud and at times obnoxious. She's caring and she's a friend until the end; she'll trust you with her life, she'll protect you with her soul, she'll want nothing more than for you to return the feelings and she loves her bread and butter more than anything.

But that's just _one _side of her.

She can be ruthless. She can kill. She can snap your neck. She can break your face with punch.

But she's just a girl. Through it all she's just a girl.

And girls want friends and tea parties and giggles and—

―The Mad Hatter wanted _revenge_.

But until that day comes, she'll patiently wait and she'll fill in the gap with nonsense. Because there's always time for nonsense.

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_"I cried myself insane. I'll make her cry. I'll make her cry until she cries blood and even then it won't be enough."_

"_Calm down – everything will fall into place."_

"_Dormouse… It's… IT'S NOT FAIR. IT'S NOT FAIR."_

"_I know, Hatter… I know…"_

"_IT'S NOT FAIR IT'S NOT FAIR IT'S NOT FAIR IT'S NOT FAIR – DO __**YOU **__KNOW WHY THE RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING DESK, DORMOUSE?"_

"_Shhh. Hatter, please… for me…"_

"_I….I… I… IT'S NOT—I'm sorry…"_

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**.Always.  
.Running.  
.Out.  
.Of.  
.Time.**

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"Isn't Wonderland such a _gorgeous _place, Sakura," Karin asked in a feathery sigh as she led them down one of her castle's many halls.

Sakura blinked glassy green eyes and stared with pure puzzlement. "Wonderland?" She shook her head and scrunched her brow, "I… Where's Wonderland?"

"Why, Here of course!" Karin turned to smile at her. Alice was such a pretty girl, she thought – such a pretty, pretty girl and she was very observant, very… Hmmm. Alice was a peculiar little thing; she looked off as if she were in her own world, she did funny faces to herself, she befriended people quickly but trusted too slowly. Such a peculiarly pretty girl.

"But… I thought this was The Valley of the End…"

"It is! The Valley of the End is Wonderland because this place is filled with wonder and so Wonderland it shall be called!"

Sakura bit at her lip and looked around the hall. She thought to what she's witnessed here in The Valley in her short stay here and she couldn't help but… feel complete bafflement. A crazy girl that went psychotic if she was told there was no butter, a boy with a rat tail and a sword that drank enough tea for the whole world, another boy with brown rabbit ears (a Hare?) that seemed to have snorted too much crack, a queen that was flaily and weird and scary, another queen that seemed to want to kill her…

…and a boy with a cat tail and cat ears that…

…That seemed to have a million faces and she didn't know which one to believe in.

And she wanted to yell at them all and demand to know why nothing was normal and why everything was so crazy and—

_We're all mad here, Sakura_.

And then she's chewing on her lip again and her skin's prickling even as Karin leads her through a door that clearly led to the outside world. Sakura's curiosity grew to a high peak as they walked towards what she… was guessing was some sort of stable.

"You've met Akamaru, have you not?"

"Aka-who?"

"The beast. You know," Karin waved a hand in the air, "that hideously oversized thing that my sister has trailing her everywhere she goes."

Sakura thought hard and almost gasped as she remembered those growls and—

"Y-yeah… I mean…. I heard it growl… I haven't _seen _it."

"No worries, Child of my Heart," Karin sing-sang, "My pet is so much more amazing. And she hates me for that, did you know? That child – so selfish and greedy, she is. Hm, hm, hm." Karin pushed through a stable door and sighed lovingly. "Meet my Jabberwocky."

Sakura was awestruck as she stared at a form hunched into a ball. It was human, she grasped and almost instantly did she begin to feel… to feel… Fear?

"Oh, my poor Juugo," Karin whispered sadly. It was uncharacteristic for her to sound this way, it actually caused Sakura to turn and stare at her. "Yes, he's human. He was… Oh, he was very human. Very kind – he was my friend… He was cursed. I do not know by whom nor why… But he's been cursed and nothing, no power that I can ever gain can change that."

Sakura turned back to Juugo and stared.

"He no longer speaks – the most he could do is stare at you kindly before he… goes off onto another round of anger. He… He transforms, Sakura – he turns into this lethal being and… He's my Jabberwocky – Juugo, he is… It was what he would have wanted."

He had spiked orange hair and his skin was tanned. That was all Sakura could really see right now and she wished to run her fingers through his locks to show him how sympathetic she felt for him; but people don't like other people to be sympathetic and he wasn't really a person anymore, was he?

Sakura gnawed harder.

"M'lady," came a deep female voice, "Is there something I can be of service?"

"Now, now Temari!" Karin's flaily demeanor was back and Sakura was, again, awestruck. "No need, no need – I just came to see my poor Jabberwocky."

The girl – a dirty blond – gave a curt nod but before she resumed doing what she was doing where she was (Sakura confused herself), Karin halted her, "Make sure Juugo is fed as if we're to go to war."

"M'lady?"

"Alice is back."

"Yes, Your Highness."

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_A teacup, a kettle, a spoon and a yell._

_The White Rabbit grumbled to himself as he neared._

"_I'm late. I'm always late."_

_He checked his pocket-watch._

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.

He wasn't particularly sure who saw him first – The Mad Hatter? The Dormouse? It couldn't possibly have been The March Hare—

―Where was The Cheshire Cat?

He grunted in greeting, hands stuffed into the pockets of his white slacks and rebellious hair falling over his blank teal eyes. At once, The Mad Hatter's hazel eyes glued onto his form, The Dormouse quit sipping at his tea and The March Hare ceased his attempt to throw yet another of an endless supply of teacups. Their eyes were on him and it did not unnerve him – of course not.

This was a given; being latelatelate_late _always made everyone turn towards you once you make your grand entrance. He was by far used to this.

"The White Rabbit," The Hatter murmured, slowly standing from her seat and tipping her grand hat back. "You're late."

He grunted once again and made to get closer to the trio. "I got lost."

"Did you, really," The Hatter asked pleasantly, "Would you like some bread with butter? A cup of tea? Bread with Butter?"

"There—" He blinked and closed his eyes for a millisecond before he gave a curt nod, "Tea would be fine."

With a nice smile that stretched her lips wide, The Mad Hatter grabbed a teacup filled with tea and, standing up on top of the longlonglong table, she walked towards The White Rabbit and offered it to him. He took it with a curt nod. "Would you like bread and butter with that?"

"…."

His stare found the other two and they stared back at him, The March Hare looking absolutely freaked and The Dormouse, as per usual, blank.

"…That would be rather nice, Hatter."

"M'kay – Dormouse, pass me the bread and the butter."

The Dormouse sighed and, with his rat-tail whipping around behind him, he shook his head. "There is no butter, Hatter."

"…" She froze completely and her eyes narrowed, "Is that so."

It was always the same with The Hatter – she seemed to always forget that there was never any butter. And it would always irk her and she would always grow angry and everyone knows what happens when The Mad Hatter grows angry.

"WHY IS THERE NEVER ANY BUTTER AROUND HERE – WHO ATE THE BUTTER? DO _**YOU **_KNOW, MR. RABBIT?"

"No."

"WELL THEN ANSWER ME THIS. TELL ME. TELL ME WHY THE RAVEN IS LIKE A WRITING—"

A grin appeared right next to The White Rabbit; a floating grin that looked like a Crescent moon resting on its back. Perfect, pearly white teeth glittered with the sun's lighting and a low, mischievous chuckle could be heard. And slowly-slowly-slowly did the rest of the body manifest. First his tail, then his ears, then his legs and his torso and his neck and his head and hair and his nose and then those eyes.

Those blank eyes that lured you in and captured you and never let you go.

Bottomless black eyes.

The White Rabbit stared into them head on – allowing his bright teal eyes to clash with those depthless black.

"The White Rabbit," he said in his smooth and rich voice. He was still grinning – The Cheshire Cat… a contradiction. Such a blank and impassive being filled with hot air and yet such a malevolent grin and cunning attributes. Such a contradiction.

"Cat," The Rabbit spat.

"We're assembled," The Cheshire Cat said, turning back to the other three. "Let's go."

"NONSENSE, NONSENSE, NONSENSE," The Hatter chanted, "ALL THIS TIME FILLED WITH NONSENSE AND IT SHALL BE PUT INTO GOOD USE!"

As they turned towards the general direction that would lead them to The Queen of Heart's castle, they all smirked. "There's always time for nonsense – no matter the time. Nonsense is _wonderful_."

.

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"So, is hovering around The Queen all you do?"

The Knave of Hearts snorted and rolled his amethyst eyes. His hair always fell in front of his face, it made him look charming, Sakura decided. She grinned as he continued to scoff and roll his eyes at her question. And then a sad smile came to her lips.

"Knave of Hearts… You know, one of the many definitions of a knave is an untrustworthy rogue."

He stared at her blankly, "I know."

Sakura's smile became more pleasant, "You're not that, are you?"

"Hell no."

And then it turned teasing, "You love The Queen of Hearts, don't you?"

"Of cour—WHAT."

Sakura giggled behind a small hand, glassy-green eyes prickling with tears of joy. She's become rather fond of The Knave of Hearts – he was like her caretaker, she assumed. He'd always take her here and there, he'd stay with her in her room, he'd do this he'd do that. She'd actually had thought, if she'd be placed with a shadow, it'd be Kiba – but it ended up being Suigetsu.

She didn't understand and she didn't ask.

"…How did the other Sakura die?"

He snorted again, "She was killed by The White Queen."

"I know _that_ – I want to know _how_."

He stared at her, long and hard – unblinkingly. The muscles of his jaw contracted as he clenched them, his pale, thin lips pressing into a thin line. He had his hands clasped behind him, his crimson armor shimmering with the lighting of the sun through the window… He looked magnificent.

"The Vorpal Sword was pierced through her heart."

Sakura swallowed back a gasp and instead settled for flaring her nostrils.

"Is that how I'm going to die?"

"No."

She didn't know when she accepted the fact that she was going to die – she wasn't supposed to, though… was she? Of course not…

"But—"

"You won't die. I won't let that happen – no one will."

…So Sakura held tight to these words.

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As they walked, The Mad Hatter took off her hat and twirled up in the air, grabbed it, placed it back on her head and repeated everything all over again. Her face was blank as she stared on straight ahead, only sometimes a small smile escaped her walls. She continued to twirl the hat and catching and putting it back on.

The March Hare pulled at his ears and cackled in glee before sprinting off ahead of them. Then he'd stop and look around with alarm, turn back towards the others and wait.

"Do you suppose it'll be different from a century ago," The White Rabbit murmured more to himself than the others.

Above The Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat materialized, floating above her and grabbing her Hat before it landed safely into her hands. He hummed and chuckled lowly to himself, swimming in the air until he was on his back, one leg over the other and his hands behind his head as makeshift pillows. The Hatter's hat was over his head.

"…That's my hat," she said blatantly and with slight disbelief.

The Cheshire Cat chuckled once again and continued to hum. "I always liked this hat."

"…That's my hat," The Hatter repeated and stared up at it.

The Cat's ears twitched and he grinned.

"Are we almost there?" The March Hare grabbed his ears, as always, and began to jump around them – jumping, jumping, jumping until he was high up in the air and landing with hard thumps and miniature craters appearing under his feet.

Through it all, The Dormouse remained eerily quiet and watched with blank silver-white eyes. Did you know it was a terrible thing if The Dormouse snapped? Of course, of course – anyone with a sword is a dangerous person when angry! But The Dormouse is a _savage _– where's his _tea_?

"My Hat – Cheshire Cat, give it back!"

"Hm, hm, hmmm."

"MY HAT. GIVE IT BACK!"

The Cheshire Cat disappear and reappeared a couple of feet away from them. The Hatter huffed and began to sprint after him which caused a domino effect in which The March Hare ran after The Mad Hatter and The Dormouse had to make sure they did nothing stupid so he had to run after them which left The White Rabbit behind he did _not _want to be late again so he sprinted off after them all.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat," they sang, "How I wonder where you're at!"

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"_Ah," she said, pale thin lips contorting into a cruel smile, "Bill the Lizard."_

_The white haired man bowed down, eyes closed as The White Queen assessed him._

"_What do you think, White Knight?"_

_The other man within the throne room stared on with a blank, bored obsidian black eye. "Ay, M'lady."_

_She smiled once again, "Go, Mr. Lizard – find out if Alice is in Wonderland once again."_

_The white haired man gave a curt nod and he disappeared._

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Sakura and The Knave of Hearts looked up once the doors to her room were pushed open. In entered The Queen's second most trustworthy knight. He stared at them with gleaming coal eyes and a small smirk on his lips, and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"The Queen waits for you both in the throne room."

At once, The Knave of Hearts stood and made for the door, Sakura trailing him with hesitant steps.

"Did we do something wrong," she asked in a soft voice, looking up at the two boys that were as tall as… well, everyone was technically taller than her.

Kiba snorted, "Of course not. There are some things she has to say and this idiot has to be within the room – and since he has to be in the room, so do you; I mean, he is to keep you at his side at all times, right?"

Sakura pouted.

"Yes – and I don't see _why_."

Together, The Knave of Hearts and his right hand man chuckled and teased her. Sakura couldn't help but laugh as well when the two turned on each other and began a barrage of witty banters. They were so… different, these two. Sakura felt as if they were really close – like, those kind of people that could only work with each other or alone but never with anyone else.

Her random musing was cut short when Kiba and Suigetsu pushed the doors to the throne room open right after they cave a curt knock.

As they entered, Sakura almost did a double take at the sight of Tenten, Neji, Naruto and Sasuke… Along with someone else she did not know. But… He was… handsome? Crimson-red hair that looked windblown and disheveled, blank teal eyes and a blank expression. He wore a white button-down shirt, a black vest, white slacks and white shoes. And he had white rabbit ears and Sakura was positive that if she looked hard enough, she'd catch his rabbit tail.

"Um—"

"Ah! Child of my Heart! Come, come, come! Look, as I had promised; The Cheshire Cat is here as well as The Hatter and The Hare and The Dormouse and The Rabbit!"

At that, the five new additions to the throne room turned to stare at a baffled Sakura. Her eyes, though, were subconsciously glued on Sasuke and his blank eyes and his smirk and his swaying tail and his twitching ear. It's been around two days since she last saw him but it almost felt like forever.

Sakura hated this.

"Now," Karin said, her flaily tone composed and all business like. Her hands were on her hips, one of her legs supporting all her weight as she stared down at them all from the very top of the miniature stairs of her throne. "Sakura's back within The Valley of the End. We all know that my sister hates this with all the fiber within her being. She does not know for sure that she's back, but rumors spread and people deceive. We _have _to be careful. We _don't _want a repeat of what happened one hundred years ago. We'll protect Sakura with our lives. Isn't that right?"

There were chants of firm yeses and Sakura felt tears prickling at her eyes.

"My five spies are together once again and once I give the order you'll go off and keep close watch of everything my sister and her people do. I'd send The Knave of Hearts but his new position is to keep Sakura guarded, safe and within his line of sight." Karin's maroon lips tilted into a smile. "I have faith in you – all of you. Everything will be alright."

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"_She's making her move."_

"_I was afraid of this," she said softly, "I don't want a déjà vu. I'm tired of this."_

"_Ay."_

"_We must keep a watch on her, White Knight. We can't let this happen again."_

"_M'lady?"_

"_We'll act on my word."_

"_Ay."_

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this is how we do itttt. graduating in FIVE, count 'em, FIVE days. do expect me to randomly update whatever during this whole week for i have nothing but graduation practices. :)

review! :)


	7. very good advice

**dedication: **to sleep, soda, summer and the lack of school  
**disclaimer: **i still don't own shit. back the fuck up.  
**notes: **thaaaaaaaanks for the reviewssss. also, i believe i can fly.

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Alice is a stubborn girl.

Stubborn, at times obnoxious, very curious and amiable. She smiles and she glares and she screams and she whispers and she's _Alice_. She's a girl that brightens the room, that wonders too much, spaces out in her own world and she will follow anything that seems utterly peculiar.

That's why she followed The White Rabbit through a waterfall, into a portal and into a world filled with wonders and things that are not normal, but normal altogether. And that's why she befriended all the psychotic people that sprung in front of her and fell in love with a boy with cat-ears and a cat-tail.

And that's why she was killed.

But, Alice, through all she lived through, gave herself very good advice.

Maybe she should know how to follow the right ones.

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"_Of course we'll protect her with our lives! I'd give my life to keep Alice safe!"_

"_ALICE-CHAAAAAAN, I'LL PROTECT HER! I'LL THROW HER TO SAFETY!"_

"_Alice is to be protected. Always."_

"_We'll keep her safe, Cheshire Cat. We'll keep her safe because she's our friend, because we care about her and because it's not right… But we're mostly protecting her for __**you**__."_

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Sakura felt the world crumbling over her and she couldn't breathe and she didn't know what to do.

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**A  
L  
W  
A  
Y  
S**

**RUNNING**

**O  
U  
T**

**OF**

**T  
I  
M  
E**

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"You're not really going to go, are you?"

Sakura's green eyes were glued onto Sasuke's back; she watched as his muscles constricted under his shirt and how his tail went stiff before continuing to sway from side to side. He didn't answer her, though; he just continued to look out the window. Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Are you?"

He turn to look at her then. His dark eyes were as blank as ever – not even the usual sliver of mischief were in them.

"Yes."

A pang and a twisting pull made her stomach constrict in a bundle of knots that, if she wasn't careful, Sakura was positive she'd hurl. She bit at her lower lip and looked down at the heart-shaped bed; shaking fingers fingered the silk, grabbing fist fulls and twisting them in her grip.

"B-but… Why? Why do you guys have to do anything at all… Maybe I should just go back to Konoha – or, or, or—"

"Sakura," by now, Sasuke had fully turned around to look at her, hands stuffed into the pockets of his slacks, posture slouchy but rigid and hair covering his eyes. "Either way you're in danger."

Sakura blanched at this and she stared at him with eyes as wide as the soccer ball she played with back at home. "I-I-I… What?"

"The White Queen – she travels from Konoha to The Valley of the End and back. She's been keeping an eye on you just as much as I have. She knows you're here now. And she'll look for you and she _will _kill you."

She opened and closed her mouth like a fish without water, slowly shaking her head in utter disbelief. "Ino… She… I… But…. I can't believe this."

So this must be what it feels like when you feel betrayed. This must be the feeling of being seen and taken for a complete and utter fool. This is what it must feel like to realize that, no, you're not safe, you never were safe and you'll never be safe. This is what it must feel like when the sinking feeling of the need to curl into yourself and wish the world forgot about you takes over every nerve in your body.

How could she have been so stupid?

Disappearing for weeks on end. Leaving to visit her family over the Great Bridge. Living alone. Flawless hair, flawless mask, flawless everything. Perfection.

It was obvious.

Why couldn't Sakura have seen it? Why, why, why whywhywhywhy_why_?

She wasn't able to catch as Sasuke disappeared and reappeared right in front of her, looking down at her and staring at her with what she would have been surprised to note was a look of sympathy. Sasuke couldn't be sympathetic of anything or anyone, could he?

But then again… She was Sakura, right?

And then she clung to him, snaked her arms around his neck and held on as tight as she could, her face buried in his chest as her frame shook with uncontrollable sobs.

Because, when you're basically racing time, racing death, what else could you do?

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Bill the Lizard was a very obscene man; he did not care who was around him – he spoke his mind and he spoke it with a passion.

This passion was only rivaled by the pure devotion he had to The White Queen. And it was for this reason that he was on his merry way to seek out Alice so that she could once again be defeated and gotten rid of. Because she was what caused his mistress anger and he hated anyone that could do such a thing.

And when he found Alice – he was going to kill her.

Be rid of her.

Bill the Lizard smirked and chuckled, mumbling a few obscenities as he blended in with his environment – green and brown.

After all, what fool wouldn't check a mad tea-party first?

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The Queen of Hearts bit at her lower lip and stared at the closed door of her throne room.

"M'lady," The Knave of Hearts questioned at his Queen's obvious turmoil.

She shook her head and pressed her lips into a tight, thin line before blinking her crimson eyes. "Knave, I want you to go back to Sakura's room. I want her guarded at all times."

"Ay, M'lady."

He was going to turn to leave before a small, tender hand held him back by setting itself comfortably on his armor's shoulder. He turned to stare at The Queen, amethyst eyes unreadable. "Your Highness?"

Her hand feathered its way to cup his cheek, red eyes flashing gentleness before they went back to the steely warmness. "Please, take care of her."

The Knave of Hearts nodded. "I will, M'lady."

Smiling, she gave a nod and watched him walk out of the throne room, and even then, her stare remained glued on the space of air where he had once stood.

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"_I seldom follow the very good advices I give myself – but this one is one I must go through with."_

_So then, Alice walked towards the window, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated on the image of a dark haired boy with cat-ears and a cat tail._

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The Cheshire Cat manifested himself, sitting on the corner of the table that The Hatter, The March Hare, The Dormouse and The White Rabbit occupied. A leg crossed atop another and his hands neatly folded on his lap. His tail swayed and his ears twitched in annoyance.

"Oh! Cheshire Cat!" The March Hare screeched, "How delightful of you to join us! Here, have some _tea_!"

The Cheshire Cat instantly leaned to the side and avoided the tea-cup that went flying past where his head had once been.

"You're not here to steal my hat again, are you, you conniving feline?" The Hatter took a protective grip of her hat and stared at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes. Ten seconds later, she was twirling and skipping towards The Cheshire cat, a face-splitting grin on her lips.

"THEY HAVE BUTTER, CHESHIRE CAT. BUTTER – THEY HAVE SOME."

They watched as she grabbed a slice of bread and with the gentleness a mother has on her child, she began to spread butter over it… And then she threw it so it'd stick to the wall. She cackled in glee, joined by The March Hare who was jumping in his seat while clapping his hands. "DO IT AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN."

The White Rabbit grunted and turned his blank teal eyes towards The Cheshire Cat, "What are we going to do."

"Seek out every single assassin The White Queen sends out to find Alice," he replied, dark eyes staring right back at The Rabbit. He then turned to The Dormouse and raised a brow, "Do you have your sword?"

"Yes."

"Then we're ready."

"All we need," The Hatter said, composing herself and fixing her hat over her head, "is The Queen's word."

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_The Knave of Hearts entered into an empty room._

_Amethyst eyes widened, mouth fell ajar and heart began to pound like an 808 drum._

_And as fast as he could, he turned around and exited the room._

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"Say," The Mad Hatter said in a drawl. Her feet were propped on the table, elbows resting on the arms of the chair and her hat was tilted back. "Where _is _Alice?"

Everyone turned their attention to The Cheshire Cat; he stared right back at them before one of his rare grins took a hold of his lips. "She's sleeping in her bedroom."

"DOES SHE WANT TEA," The March Hare asked, tilting his head. "I can get her some! It'd be amazing!"

He threw a tea-cup towards the door just as it was opened.

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Bill the Lizard stared at the empty tea-table. Shattered glass littered the grass; tea-cups, tea-kettles, knives, forks, spoons, napkins. On the table, it was no different and the different types of chairs were all thrown on the ground or broken into pieces.

He glared and looked around the place, trying to see if any of these mad idiots were hiding behind trees. Not that they would; they'd probably already be attacking with barrages of kicks and punches by the chaos he's reduced their beloved table. Bill the Lizard turned around and walked towards one of the trees and stared at it until its eyes cracked open into pits of endless black.

"Where is she."

"_Who is she, child?"_

Bill's glare darkened, "Do not play stupid with me, little piece of shit."

"_With insults, we'll get to nowhere."_

"ALICE! WHERE IS ALICE, YOU WORTHLESS THING."

"_I have no answer to your_ _question_."

Angered, Bill the Lizard growled and stalked away. Of course the trees would give him no answer – they were gentle and loving! They'd never sell anyone out. He must make sure they are all burned to their roots once the chance rises. He stopped in front of a large patch of flowers and stared down.

"You _will _inform me if Alice is to show up. Or I'll stomp on you all."

He turned his back, ears feeding on the whispers that erupted below him.

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It had taken her a while, to get ready, she had grabbed a hooded cloak that lingered in the closet of the bedroom Karin had given her. Not to mention that she grabbed every last cookie in the plate on her nightstand, grabbed the bottle right next to it. Sure, the chances of it being one of those shrinking-growing things were split fifty-fifty, but Sakura could get hungry.

Climbing down the window had been difficult; her eyes had remained completely closed as she descended down the thick-thick-thick vines. Once on the ground, she had made sure her hood was on or every last knight roaming the place would have known who she was. And it was this way that she managed to have them open the grand doors of the gates; that and a little lie in which she emphasized that The Queen of Hearts had specifically told her to run to the village to get some more ingredients for her potions.

Not that she knew if that was true or not.

Either way, it got her outside; Sakura stared at the green and red that engulfed her. Red roses, green bushes, green leaves.

Sighing she looked down and began to walk back to the direction Sasuke had brought her from. Back to where Tenten, Naruto and Neji would have their tea parties. Then, she could just ask how she could get back to Konoha.

And maybe then... everything would go back to normal. No one would die for her sake. It was a good plan, Sakura thought, biting her lip and ignoring anything that was contradicting her.

Suigetsu said no one would let her die; Sakura decided that she won't let anyone die, either.

And that was a promise.

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_"Knave...? What are you doing here?"_

_"M'lady... She's gone."_

_"...__**what**__?"_

_"Alice... She's gone... She's not in her room... She's __**gone**__."_

_"...Oh no. Oh no... Oh nonononono__**no**__."_

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The five of them stared as The Queen of Hearts and her two most trustworthy knights stepped into the dining room. Everything was frozen; The March Hare ceased to throw chinaware, The Dormouse stopped his tea-drinking, The Mad Hatter woke up, The White Rabbit continued to stare and The Cheshire Cat continued to look on in boredom.

Almost instantly, The Queen of Hearts' five most reliable attributes to her merry band of soldiers stood from their seats and awaited for whatever it was that she had to say. They stared at her, eyes never breaking from her slim form. And at the sight of her outmost turmoil, they grew anxious.

"M'lady," The Hatter began, as always, being the one that spoke for them all. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh," The Queen began, biting at her maroon lips and raking her slim fingers through her cherry-red hair. "Oh, oh, _oh_. Something's gone terribly wrong."

The Queen watched as they all grew stiff and she allowed her eyes to rake through each one. As always, The March Hare looked completely chaotic and wild; his hands instantly shot up to pull at his long ears, pulling and twisting. The Dormouse's eyes narrowed and, The Queen watched, his hand slowly-slowly-slowly made its way to his sword. The White Rabbit hummed a low grunt and ran a hand through his hair…

… And The Cheshire Cat.

Oh, oh, _oh_.

The Cheshire Cat's eyes seemed to swirl; black, black, black, _red _– where did that red come from? Is he mad? He's mad – of _course _he's _mad_! He's The Cheshire Cat and he's _mad._ The maddest of all; just like The Mad Hatter but different. He's mad and he's mad _right now_.

His swirling eyes, his clenching jaw, his fisting hands, his swaying tail, his sharp ears.

The Queen let out a ragged breath before closing her eyes and therefore severing her stare from the image of such a horrid sight. She squared her scrawny shoulders and cleared her throat.

"Alice…"

The Five reeled in.

"Alice…"

The Knave of Hearts and his trusty Knight looked away in shame.

"Alice…"

The Cheshire Cat's eyes spun.

"Alice is gone."

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Sakura stood in a plain filled with green. There was green everywhere – the trees, the leaves, the bushes, the grass; everything was _green_. She took a deep breath in and looked around, trying to figure out where she should go. Was it left? Right? Front?

She swallowed and pursed her lips… My, has her walking made her thirsty.

Without thinking coherently, without so much as remembering anything, she took out the small bottle of potion and uncapped it. Green eyes fluttered shut and a pink tongue peeked out to moisten pouty lips… and then she drank. By the time her eyes snapped open and her mind was struck with the forgotten, but certainly true, fact… it was too late.

Immediately, did she drop the bottle and just as quickly did her body begin to feel that tingling, hot sensation running through her limbs. And with widened eyes, she watched as her right arm grew smaller and smaller, her fingers going just as small one by one – first the pinky, then the thumb, followed by the ringer, soon after the pointer and lastly the middle. And then her left arm and her left hand did the same; her legs soon followed… her torso, her nose, her hair and then her head until finally she was but another ant lost in a jungle of green.

"Damn it – I _knew_! I fucking _knew_ and I _forgot_. I'm such an _idiot._ God!" She kicked at the ground and pouted.

That tantrum lasted a minute before she decided that being angry at herself would get her nowhere… So Sakura decided to just keep going with her plan. And, nervously, hesitantly, she took a step forward – one, two, one two, left, right, left, right until she was finally moving forwards. A sea of green – what horrors waited for her there?

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"_You must all go __**now**__! We must find Alice before anyone else does—_

_-Go!"_

_And she watched them all leave; The March Hare skyrocketing out of sight; The Mad Hatter, The Dormouse and The White Rabbit breaking out a window, The Knave of Hearts and his trusty knight shooting out of the door and The Cheshire Cat swirling until he was invisible and out of sight._

_The Queen of Hearts sighed, grabbed at the place where her heart should be and waited._

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Out and scattered around the lands of The Valley of The End, The Hatter, The Dormouse, The Rabbit, The Hare, The Knave and Knight heard it.

A piercing, agonizing, angry, _mad, mad, mad, mad_ scream.

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The Cheshire Cat wanted his beloved Alice back.

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ooooh, honey. this is getting good. also, also, also... hi.

review! :)


	8. the poison

**dedication: **to Pau, and Saraa, and Sonya. And life. And the Canada Plan that will become permanent, I swear. And to music. And to not letting life bring you down.  
**disclaimer **I own absolutely nothing of what i'm writing (i.e. The Mouse's Tale, The Jabberwocky, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat). 'cept the callooh-callay rhyme you will see in parenthesis. that is actually mine.  
**notes: **thaaaaaanks for the reviews! And my apologies for such a long wait. There's action in this chapter. I suck at action. You'll soon see, why. also, KNIFE!

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_fury said to a mouse_

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The Mad Hatter walked through what was once her town.

Everything was in ruins – nothing was recognizable. Nothing.

She stared at the ashes that would forever dust the place and she felt her anger rise. She walked, slowly, hesitantly; the soles of her boots making crunching noises as they squash clumps of dried mud. She swallowed and bit her lips.

All the townhouses – the little blue house with the hay-roof… The Baker's shop… The lady with the twin babies' beautiful garden…

…They were all burned.

Gone.

Never to be seen again.

The Mad Hatter gulped and walked down a road that was once familiar. Her gloved hands were fisted and her glowing amber eyes were shielded by the rim of her hat. This wasn't supposed to be happening. This shouldn't be the way things were. Everything was supposed to be _alive_ – children were supposed to be running around, chasing each other, giggling, screaming, bringing the streets to life. Parents were supposed to be to the side, talking to each other in hushed voices. Shops were supposed to be open…

No one was supposed to be _dead_.

Everything wasn't supposed to be a memory of something it once was.

She came to a stop in front of a broken shop. It didn't stand tall and proud like it used to – like it was supposed to. Instead, everything was in ruins, only a quarter of the front wall standing up, loads of concrete all around it… And as The Hatter neared, her anger continued to rise… Until it escalated at the sight of the one thing that could ever break what was left of her maddening heart.

A sign was on the ground, dusted and discolored by time and dust and ashes.

It had a dark-violet hat etched on it, a green M right at the center.

The Hatter's fists shook in fury.

"Ah, The Mad Hatter." A steady, low, soothing voice shattered the silence into a thousand shards.

She continued to stare at the sign, caramel eyes glowing, glowing until they began to darken and her anger was reaching its peak.

"I," she said lowly, never looking up at the new arrival, "I've been considering things that begin with the letter 'M'."

Had she had her head facing her new company, she'd seen the blank expression in silvery eyes and the slight twitch of an eyebrow.

"Moron," The Hatter said, slowly turning to face the new person in the dead town, head still ducked low.

She felt her control slipping, "Mutiny."

Her anger reached its max.

"_Murder_."

And with one swift movement she was staring at the other woman, hazel eyes darkened to pitch-endless-fathomable black.

"_Malice."_

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_that he met in the house, 'let us both go to law:_

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The desert one must past to get to The Queen of Hearts' castle stretched from east and west and north and south. Things could happen somewhere and one might never find out until it's too late and everything is being broken to tiny, unrecognizable pieces – like things were _always_ breaking.

Someone could possibly be murdered miles and miles away from the road wandering legs have imprinted on the ground – the _right _and _safe _way to walk to The Castle – and no one would see it. No one would find the poor defenseless body.

Things can happen.

One must be precautious.

And so, The Dormouse was.

He had a firm grip on his sword and his tail was whipping from side to side, keen eyes picking up on anything – any sudden movements. His alerting ears tuning in to any disturbance to the never ending silence. But everything was fine.

The Dormouse wondered if The Hatter was fine. Has she lost it? Whom is she rampaging her anger to?

"Ah, is that being—"

"No. No it isn't. Not a bit—"

"Contrariwise, I believe it so—"

"No it ain't so. No how."

The Dormouse whipped around, sword poised, silver-white eyes narrowed, tail whipping.

"I told you so—"

"I believe you did—"

"It is him—"

"The wielder of that pointy sword—"

"Dangerous, if I say so—"

The Dormouse glared as they both said:

"The Dormouse."

He stared at the two – tawny and electric blue eyes staring back, a blanket of impassiveness hiding all the mischief in their stares. He raised his chin up and raised an eyebrow at them, glancing from red to blond and back.

"Has The White Queen sent you both," he asked.

"Indeed—"

"Alice is here and we must—"

"Hush, hush. He already knows—"

"How do _you _know?"

"He has unsheathed his sword."

"Oh dear, that he has."

The Dormouse began to lose his patience. He glared and glared and glared; his tailed whipping at the dirt-ground.

"Do you suppose he will—"

"_Twinkle, twinkle little bat_," The Dormouse hissed, taking a step closer to the duo.

One of the two, the red one, tilted his head. "Ah, that he will, that he will—"

"_How I wonder what you're at_."

Closer.

Closer.

"Oh dear," the blond one said, blinking his blue-blue-blue eyes, "Do you suppose—"

"Yes, yes we have—"

"Oh my, we must get ready—"

"His sword is ready—"

"Ah—"

The Dormouse whipped his tail.

"_Up above the world you fly_," he recited.

His two enemies stood their ground and stared.

"_Like a tea tray in the sky_."

"Oh dear, oh my. He's finishing."

"And so we must get ready."

"Is he going to—"

"Of course he is."

"Oh dear."

"_Twinkle, twinkle, little bat_." The Dormouse's eyes did not rip away from their pinning on his two opponents. He felt his control already gone and it was only a matter of time – a matter of _one more stanza _– before he lost it _completely_.

He watched as red and blond crouched and readied themselves.

And he smirked.

"_**How I wonder what you're at**_."

And then he launched himself, catapulting towards those that tried to harm Alice.

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**A**

**L**

**W**

**A**

**Y**

**S**

―

**R**

**U**

**N**

**N**

**I**

**N**

**G**

―

**O**

**U**

**T**

―

**O**

**F**

―

**T **

**I**

**M**

**E**

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Skyrocketing into the sky, The March Hare landed over ten feet away from where he had once stood. A crater formed where his leg landed and his crazed eyes searched around the thicket. He cursed his luck and with a shake of his head and a pull of his ears he jumped once again. Landing on a tree branch, he hopped to the next one just as the previous one snapped off the tree and crumpled to the ground.

"Alice, Alice, Alice – where are you," he sang to himself.

Left, right, left, right, up, down – where is Alice?

The March Hare hopped to the ground and looked around the vicinity. Why was Alice hiding?

Did she not like them anymore?

He picked up a rock and checked under it.

"Alice-channnnnn," he sang.

He bent his knees, readying himself for another epic jump – a soft voice stopped him.

"March Hare," it said. It was a woman and her voice was soothing. He was positive he'd heard this voice before and his ears twitched at the idea. His bright blue eyes looked around before he twisted his feet and turned around.

"March Hare," the woman said again.

The March Hare let out a dramatic gasp and lifted a twitching finger, pointing it to the woman and then to the armored man standing next to her, and then back to the woman. "Y-you!"

"Now, now," she said soothingly, taking a step closer. "Please, calm down."

The March Hare gave a low shriek and lifted a tree off the ground, roots and all. "Don't step any closer! I'm not afraid of _you_!"

"And you shouldn't," the woman hummed, "We're on your side, March Hare."

"No you're not!"

"Yes, we are now."

The March Hare tried to fight it, but the woman, so soft looking, so gentle – voice and all… He lowered the tree and stared at them. "Really?"

"Of course. Alice shall not die this time."

"You know where Alice-chan is," he asked.

"No, sadly, we don't." The woman smiled at him and The March Hare blushed. "But we know she's in grave danger."

The March Hare gasped again.

"We must stop them all from hurting Alice, March Hare. We must stop The White Queen."

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_**i **__will prosecute __**you**__―__come, i'll take no denial;_

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Avoid the fists of The Mad Hatter, that's something everyone knew.

She'll break your bones with one mere hit and the rest will be history. Her anger, her resent, her fury, her hate – it will drive her to make things break. She will kill you if she wishes. She will pierce you with any item she possesses. She will scream, she will cry, she will laugh and she will smile.

And you will die.

The Mad Hatter had a malevolent smile on her lips as she dashed towards her blue-haired enemy. She pulled an arm back, elbow bent, hand in a fist – and then she thrust it towards the other woman, just to have it hit a broken wall. She pulled back, ignoring how the cement crumpled helplessly to the ground, and skidded away from a kick; she laughed and grabbed a pole, holding it as if it were a spear.

"Do you know why the raven is like a writing desk?"

The other woman remained silent.

"No? WELL ME NEITHER."

The Hatter threw the pole and watched it miss its target – the other woman reappeared feet away from where she had once stood. With all the speed her body could give, The Hatter ran towards the woman – hat flying off her head, body twisting and grabbing the pole once again.

"You're The Gryphon, are you not," she called. "Why in the world would you do The White Queen's bidding?"

The Gryphon smiled dryly, "Why not?"

Anger made The Mad Hatter's face turn rosy. "YOU WOULD WILLINGLY KILL PEOPLE THAT HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU? PEOPLE THAT DON'T EVEN KNOW OF YOUR EXISTENCE?" She ran faster, piercing the pole into the ground and holding on to the top with all her strength; with the pole as her leverage, she swung her body, feet poised to kick.

"YOU WOULD BREAK A FAMILY APART? KILL?" Her kick made target, and The Gryphon was sent flying. The Mad Hatter stood and ran towards the body before she could stand once again. "You would willingly stain your hands red? For someone like _that_?"

"I have no connection to any of the people I am sent to get rid of," The Gryphon said, wiping blood off of her chin with the back of her hand. "I do what I do off of a whim of mine and nothing more."

The Hatter lifted her up by the collard of her black mesh-top and she twisted around, throwing her in the process. "Then you are not worth killing."

Smirking, The Gryphon stood, all jokes stopped and intentions became clear. "But kill me, you must. That is, if you wish to find Alice."

The Mad Hatter readied her fist.

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_we must have a trial:_

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He will admit that he was not close to The Cheshire Cat.

He will admit that they always argued, they were always at each other's throat, always glaring, always wanting to throttle the other. He will admit that he absolutely despised The Cat; he will admit that he always cursed him in his mind. He will admit so many things that he had against The Cheshire Cat.

But he will also admit this:

Through it all, The Cheshire Cat was still his friend.

In some twisted way, they held a bond. In some inexplicable way, they were close. In some unimaginable way, they cared for each other.

This was the only reason why he was risking his life. This was the only reason why, hearing that agonizing scream, made him react and want to find Alice all the more.

The White Rabbit's light teal eyes narrowed as a figure came into view.

"So," he wasted no time to say, "The White Queen has sent out her pets."

The man turned around, lilac eyes staring at him with something closely related to mock. "So the Bunny came out to play, huh?"

The White Rabbit's temper began to rise.

Everyone knew that The Queen of Hearts' five most trusted soldiers were _crazy_. There was no escaping it; there was no denying it. They were all _mad_. And times like these, where they had to _fight _to survive and _fight _to get what they wanted – it made them all the more lunatic. Made their entire psychotic side come out to shine.

"I was _late_, you know," The White Rabbit growled, "I was _late_. I was _late again_. I won't let you make me _late _once again." He took out his pocket watch and swung it in the air, the golden chain stretching terribly so. "I'm _always _late. Did you know that? I refuse to be late any longer!"

A scythe came out and into the firm grip of Bill the Lizard. Just in time to react to The White Rabbit's pocket watch.

"Fight against _time_," he roared in anger.

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_for really this morning i've nothing to do.'_

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The Dormouse twisted around, his sword piercing thin air – but his tail whipping a body away. He smirked at the grunt of pain, jumping out of the way of a punch. He watched the gritty ground crack, pieces of the over-dried dirt flying everywhere. His eyes moved back to his two opponents.

"Twiddledee, what should—"

"Shh, Twiddledum. We have to concentrate—"

"I know, I know."

The Dormouse catapulted into the air, knees bent, sword-arm pulled back, the other ready to strike and his tail whipping dangerously. He will not lose. He will not fail. He will defeat them. He will continue to protect Alice.

He landed on empty ground, sword piercing thin air; but with one whip of his tail, he had a grasp of one of them around the neck. He twisted around, slammed him against the ground – once, twice, thrice; and then threw him as far away as he possibly could. He ducked a punch, swiftly striking the Blond Twiddledum's stomach.

Distracted by this, he failed to dodge the body slam Red Twiddledee enforced on his body.

Grunting, The Dormouse tried to blink the colored spots away from his vision; but before they left, he was grabbed by the collard of his shirt, recklessly thrown to the side. He skidded to a stop, his white shirt ripping into shreds. Coughing, The Dormouse was quick to stand up, staggering for a second before he found his ground.

"Oh my, Twiddledee. Is he getting tired?"

"I believe so, Twiddledum."

Glaring and wiping away sweat – or was it blood? – off his brow, The Dormouse sprinted off towards them. He will not lose. He will not fail.

**twinkle twinkle little bat how i wonder what your at up above the world you fly like a tea tray in the sky twinkle twinkle little bat how i wonder what your at.**

The Dormouse will not _lose._

With that, he whipped his tail, threw his sword in the air, managed to grab Twiddledee and Twiddledum by their heads and smashed their faces together, grabbed his sword and _swiped_.

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_said the mouse to the cur, 'such a trial, dear sir,_

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Red eyes gleamed in the pitch-black darkness.

Identical ones pierced right back.

"Little Brother."

He said nothing. Just stared and breathed in and out raggedly.

His body convulsed with pure, unadulterated rage. Spasm, spasm, spasm – try to control your madness, Cheshire Cat; controlcontrolcontrolcontrol.

But his eyes swirled and his ears twitched and his tail swayed and were those claws? He was losing it. He was going crazy. He was going to kill someone – anyone – he was going to do it. He was going to break bones. He was going to shred limbs. He was going to do every single little thing he had to do to find her.

He will not lose her again.

He'll go crazy (CRAZY, CRAZY, YOU SILLY CAT). He'll go mad.

Did you know it was wrong to trust The Cheshire Cat?

Through the palpitation and through his swirling-swirling-swirling crimson eyes – through his _madness_, The Cheshire Cat let a wide, malevolent, crazy, hypnotic, ghastly grin. And he laughed. He roared in laughter. He screamed in humor. He disappeared and manifested in the air – above his brother's head. He hummed and twirled in place, his tail wrapping around the other male's head, caressing his face; he sang and hummed, and chuckled and his grin only grew - a Crescent moon on a sky painted red.

"Where is she," he sang-growled.

The other man remained unmoving – crimson eyes glued to the spot where The Cheshire Cat had once stood. He blinked once or twice and resumed his impassiveness. Raven-black bangs swayed to tickle his cheekbones – the only movement from his part.

And a smile just as wide as The Cheshire Cat's soon made his face split in two. Razor sharp teeth glinted in the darkness – how many, how many; count… One, two, three, four – SO MANY!

The Cheshire cat chuckled.

"Where is she. I know you know. Bandersnatch."

He floated so that he was right in front of The Bandersnatch, clawed hands cupping the stretched cheeks of the man; glinting red meeting glinting red.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS."

"Little Brother," sharp teeth, sharp teeth, "You've grown rude."

"Where is _Alice_, Bandersnatch. Tell me."

It was quiet.

The Cheshire Cat sighed and took a seat in the air, as if he were in a chair. Leg crossed over the other, hands folded neatly at his lap. And he looked mad. He looked crazy. He looked psychotic. He wanted blood. Sighing again he stared at his brother and sneered, cat-ears twitching, cat-tail swaying.

"Very well, very well," he said placidly through gritted teeth, wide-wide grin. "Let us continue where we last left off. Where was it now? Ah yes – have you heard of Jabberwocky, Bandersnatch? Here, here I'll tell it to you―"

He straightened and his smile closed and turned into a frown for a second before he was all grins and glints again.

"'_Twas a brillig, and the slithy toves  
did gyre and gimble in the wabe;  
all mimsy were the borogoves  
And the mome raths outgrabe."_

His lips moved too fast to be seen, his head inclined to one side, his tail swaying and slowly-slowly-slowly disappearing.

"'_Beware the Jabberwock, my son!  
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!  
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
the frumious __**Bandersnatch**__.'"_

A fourth of his tail was missing, but The Cheshire Cat watched with frivolous anger as The Bandersnatch's wide, jagged teeth continue to spark in the void of black that they both currently resided on.

"_He took his Vorpal sword in hand:  
long time the manxome foe he sought__―__  
so rested he by the Tumtum tree,  
and stood a while in thought_

_And as in uffish thought he stood,  
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,  
came whiffling through the tulgey wood,  
and burbled as it came!"_

Where was his tail now? It was not behind him – where were his feet going? Oh dear, he couldn't be bothered. The Cheshire Cat was going mad? Madder than The Hatter? He reeled in closer, his story he continued to recite. The Bandersnatch was a statue.

"_One, two! One, two! And through and through  
the Vorpal blade went snicker-snack!  
He left it dead and with its head  
he went galumphing back._

'_And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?  
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!  
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'  
He chortled in his joy."_

In slow motion. In a blink of an eye – did The Cheshire Cat know it? Did he feel it? Did he know? – The Bandersnatch's mouth opened, jaw stretching open-open-open _wide._ And with The Cheshire still sitting on air, eyes closing, his tail swaying, ears still…. He was swallowed whole.

_(callooh! callay! callooh! callay! callooh! callay! callooh! callay! callooh! callay! callooh! callay! it'd work back then, but not today! disappear, disappear – oh brother, dear. sometimes I wish you did stay_)

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_with no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath.'_

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She was so pretty – was she evil?

Did she know where Alice-chan was? Would she tell him? Who was the man?

The March Hare wrung his ears – 'round and 'round they went. Some of his blond hair fell in front of his maddening blue-eyes and he laughed nervously, hesitantly. Where was his tea-cup? He wanted to _throw _it! And-and-and-and – where was Alice-chan? She could get lost in the never ending plains and nooks and crannies of The Valley of The End!

"Do you think she will be okay, Duchess-chan?"

She smiled softly at him and for just a second The March Hare felt normally still and quite not jumpy. His tanned skin went rosy-red as she neared him until they were but an inch apart. "History cannot repeat itself twice, March Hare. We will find her; The White Knight will bring down whoever stands in our way."

The March Hare's blue eyes wide as her cold lips met his forehead.

With a thump, he fell to the ground.

(A gray eye – the other one, lost and forever forgotten under the white eye-patch – rolled to stare at the sky. He dragged the psychotic boy by the foot.)

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'_i'll be judge, i'll be jury,' said cunning old fury;_

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The Knave of Hearts and his trusted Knight wandered down the forest filled with exotic flowers that held no names, with creatures that seemed quite ridiculous. Their eyes were peeled, their swords unsheathed.

"This is fuckin' troublesome," The Knight sighed.

The Knave of Hearts snorted, "Yeah. What else were we fuckin' expe—"

A gurgling noise.

The Knight, coal eyes widening, turned away from what he was expecting and to his Captain. Horror took over his face – blood running cold, complexion turning as white as snow. This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be. Fuck – not this! Not _this!_

He watched, swallowing thickly. Watched as his Captain's crimson armor turned all the more red – red- red- red- red- red. Blood pooling all around him. He didn't have to see, to know that blood was spilling out his pale-lips. But his eyes were glued to the hand that protruded out the back of his Captain's abdomen. Watched the bloody fingers wiggle – testing what was done.

The Knave of Hearts fell to his knees. A gurgle – another. A gasp of air. A groan. A gurgle….

….Silence.

No… No… No… No… _**NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!**_

The Knight's wide, petrified eyes looked up and stared at the lavender rim-after-rim-after-rim-after-rim eyes of The Jubjub Bird.

Without their stares breaking they heard the body of The Knave of Hearts fall with a hollow thud.

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'_i'll try the whole cause,_

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_Tik-tok_

Bill the Lizard heard the flowers whisper.

_Tik-tok_

The White Rabbit had him pinned to the ground.

_Tik-tok_

There was blood everywhere – staining The Rabbit's white suit. Staining Bill the Lizard's silver-white hair. Staining the green grass red (Painting the roses red? What? Of course everything must be red! The Queen of Hearts loves red!). The bark of trees shimmered red.

_Tik-tok_

Whisper, whisper, the flowers whispered.

alice alice alice alice we found alice have you?

_Tik-tok_

Bill the Lizard tried to break free – The White Rabbit let a punch connect with his jaw. With his eye. With his mouth. His nose. His cheek. He will not allow Bill the Lizard to leave. He could hear the flowers whisper too.

Oh Alice, Alice. What troubles have you got into?

_Tik-tok_

He will not be late.

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_and condemn _

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Sakura could have sworn the flowers were staring at her. They were speaking, too. The roses, the tulips, the daisies, the honeysuckles, the petunias, the cosmos – they were speaking. Whispering. She could hear them! (_That's Alice. What is she doing here! How dare she! She should leave! Someone get rid of her! Alice – we found Alice! She's so small!_)

She didn't stop – though she really wanted to. The rocking-horse-fly hissed at her. The slices of butterfly-breads pulled her hair. She was not wanted here, Sakura knew. And so her steps became more hurried. It'd be dark soon – she was scared. What if… What if…

A coughing fit came on. Her eyes squinting and watering at the smoke that soon began to fog and pollute her air. Vaguely, through her coughing fit, she realized that she could no longer hear the flowers' whispering. And with narrowed eyes she took in the long blades of glass towering over her like green skyscrapers – stretching up, up, up into the sky.

"Oh god," she bemoaned, "Where _am _I? Will I… I ever go—"

"Who are you?"

Sakura froze, eyes – against her will – widening. She looked around; to the west – nothing but grass. To the east – nothing but grass. To the south – nothing but grass. And to the north…

Instantly, she reeled in closer, her attention grasped by the white smoke surrounding the place – turning pink at certain points. Oh, that was green! Red! Purple! _Blue_! She walked closer, hands wringing in front of her. She could make up the form of mushrooms – higher than her, of course. Red umbrella, white spots, yellow stems. And above it rested a figure.

It looked like a man.

With six arms and six legs.

And his head had the shape of a pineapple! What, with that hair…and all.

"_Who __**are **__**you**_?" He asked and Sakura let out a startled gasp.

Blinking rapidly, Sakura's jade-green eyes stared at the man; his eyes were closed, one of his… arms making a pillow for his head while the other one held the long hose of a bong. That was where the smoke was coming from; a smoking caterpillar-man.

"I-I'm Sakura," she heard herself say distantly.

This seemed to have grasped the caterpillar-man's attention. His eyes snapped open and he sat up, beady black eyes peering down at her with impassiveness mixed with shock and boredom. "Alice? _The _Alice?"

"I…I suppose." She gave a shaky nod.

"Nonsense. You are not Alice," he said, laying down on his stomach and peering down at her from the edge of the mushroom. "Alice was not, is not, and will not be foolish."

Sakura felt offended at this and she felt her anger rise. She stomped a foot, "You can't tell me who I am and who I'm not! I _am _Sakura! Alice in this… this place! How can you say otherwise?"

The Caterpillar raised an eyebrow. "For one," he drawled, "Alice would not leave the safety of The Queen of Hearts' home; wander around The Valley of The End at the size of four inches. She would not be risking the lives of her friends, nor her own, for any foolish reason." He leaned down a bit, "You are _not _Alice."

"I want to go home!" Sakura burst out, hands fisted at her side. "I want to go home! I don't want anyone to die for me! I want to go _home_! But I don't know how… I… I don't want to be here anymore – I don't want Sasuke to die. Or Tenten… Or Neji and Naruto! I don't want Gaara or Kiba or Suigetsu to risk their lives for me! I want to go home!"

She was in tears now and it only angered Sakura more.

The Caterpillar opened his eyes and stared, "_Who __**are **__**you**_?"

"I'M SAKURA," she yelled, eyes closing and tears still spilling. "I'M SAKURA. I'M SAKURA. I'M SAKURA. I'M SAKURA."

"Alice," The Caterpillar asked.

The wind rustled the grass and Sakura looked down at the dirt. Her mind analyzing what she was supposed to say – what was going on – what she had gotten herself into – what would happen next. And her mind could only bring in images. Images of a lanky girl in a black tutu, with a corset, with a hat that meant the world to her. Images of a boy with a rat-tail, sipping his tea and smirking at her. Images of a boy who seemed to be too jumpy for his own good, smiling and laughing and offering her tea. Images of two boys, vowing to protect her with their lives.

And an image that burned her to her very core. An image of a boy with cat-ears, a cat-tail, a look of a blanket of blankness… and a smile that looked so broken, so happy, so crazy… And a heart that she knew that someway belonged to her.

"Yes," she murmured, "I'm Alice."

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_you to death.'_

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* * *

/dies. that was actually my attempt at writing action/fighting scenes. excuse my novice status. i'm pretty sure there is more i'd like to say, but i can't remember so let's just leave it at this.

review! :)


	9. where's my angel

**dedication: **TO SARA. And my soda. But mostly? To **Just Lovely. **for going back and reviewing every single chapter to stories that have been done with for a year now. THANK YOU!  
**disclaimer: **No. Just... No.  
**notes: **Thank you guys for... complimenting my awful fighting scenes! You guys rock my fruitbowl.

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break it down and live it up

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Almost like magic, Sakura felt that warm feeling surround her body all over again. Like if she was changing sizes – but she wasn't. She _knew _she wasn't; she hadn't eaten anything or drunken anything and it was just not possible. Not possible at all.

But, still, this was happening.

Wide, frightened eyes watched as The Caterpillar disappeared, as did the mushrooms, and the grass and the sky and _everything_. Everything was consumed by white.

White and a light that hurt to look at – like if you're looking up at the sun. Sakura raised a hand to shield her eyes and bit her lips to keep from screaming.

White, white, white, white.

Consume her all.

Everything went black after that.

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take the sin and breathe it up

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The Mad Hatter staggered. Her breathing was ragged and she was bleeding—

―bleeding from everywhere; her arms and legs were cut in various places, her right shoulder had a needle stabbed into it, her lower lip was pouring blood as was her forehead and her brown hair looked to be wet with the red substance as well.

And yet she stood, dark eyes gloomy, half lidded and still irrevocably _livid_. Her mouth was partially opened as she tried to even out her breathing, enough to get her to make the next move. Nothing was going to bring her down – nothing could. Not while The Cheshire Cat needed her help… Not while The March Hare needed her help… Not while The White Rabbit needed her help…

Not while The Dormouse needed her.

The Hatter staggered towards the pole that had become her sole weapon, other than her fist. As she bent forward to grasp it, she tripped and stumbled – but she didn't fall.

"You're tired," The Gryphon noted out loud. "Give it a rest. There's no point."

The Mad Hatter's eyes drifted towards her opponent, and she stared. Stared and stared and stared. And she said nothing.

The Gryphon was as badly hurt as The Hatter was; cuts littered her body – her left arm was incapacitated beyond repair… a punch from The Hatter's fist, at that. It was now or never, The Hatter decided.

She had to do this.

She could not be brought down.

She _won't _be brought down.

"Why do you continue to fight," The Gryphon questioned.

The Mad Hatter spoke not a word as she grasped the pole with all the strength she had within her body. Stagger, stagger, stagger – don't fall, don't fall, you can't fall. Her body ache and she wanted to rest so badly. It was wrong. Or not – she didn't know anymore. So instead, she ran.

Run and not stumble. Just run, run, run, run, run. Because she can't give up.

She won't.

And then she jumped, eyes narrowing into slits of concentration, her pole-holding hand pulled back, her other one extended towards her target, knees bent in the air and with a scream that spilt all the burdens she wanted to hold for the world, she pierced the pole right into The Gryphon's chest.

She had no chance from the start.

Gasping for air, The Hatter fell to her knees simultaneously with The Gryphon.

Blood poured out of the blue-haired woman's mouth as she gasped. "W-why…" she gasped, "Why do you fight… ?"

The Mad Hatter leaned her forehead unto the edge of the pole and continued to breathe harshly. The other woman gasped for the air that was leaving her, just as her life was – and as much as she would gasp, as much as she would try to grasp… She was gone.

The Hatter stood and swayed.

"I fight…" she said, walking towards her hat. She stumbled and tripped and skidded once; but she rose back up, like nothing and walked to her hat. She picked it up and cleaned it, fingered it fondly, and gently placed it back on her head.

Still swaying in her stance, she turned to stare at The Gryphon, already dead.

"I fight to protect my friends."

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**a l w a y s r u n n i n g o u t o f t i m e**

_a l w a y s r u n n i n g o u t o f t i m e _

a l w a y s r u n n i n g o u t o f t i m e

_whathappenswhenitstops_

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break it down and live it up

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_The Queen of Hearts struggled for air, her hand clutching at her chest, ripping and scratching and ripping and scratching._

_Something was wrong. Something was so wrong. Her heart – it… it was __**hurting**__. It was a pain she could not put up with – a pain that was causing all the strength she held to deplete in a manner of seconds. She panted, falling to her knees in the middle of her throne room._

_And she screamed._

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take the sin and breathe it up

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His crimson armor was tainted with blood.

And the irony of it?

It was his best friend's blood.

His Captain's blood.

It was coated all over him – his armor, his hair, his face… _his hands_. The Knight cringed as he continued to run at a speed that was almost ungodly, The Knave of Hearts slung on his back. And one thing was running across his mind, like a broken mantra that was more of a way to reassure himself – something that, if he repeated enough times, it would be true:

He will not die he will not die he will not die he will not die he will not die.

The Knight ran faster than he'd ever run before. And a coherent spec of his mind wondered if The March Hare would be alright…

"_WAH? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KNAVE?"_

_The Knight's eyes manage to rip away from his Captain's still body, away from The Jubjub bird and towards The March Hare; they lowered to the small crater his feet caused as he arrived to the scene. There was a girl on his back, and she looked terribly familiar, as did the male standing next to him. But The Knight was too far gone to even care._

_The Knave of Hearts… He was dying… The Queen was going…._

_He didn't want to think about it._

"_Knight," The March Hare said, growing serious in one blink of an eye, "Take him back to The Queen. Let us handle things here."_

"_It's The—"_

"_Go," said the man – The White Knight. He unsheathed his sword. "I will handle things here."_

Shaking his head, The Knight decided that getting to The Castle was more top priority.

He was almost there.

Just a bit further.

He could make it.

He could.

…There was blood all over him; enough to make him want to go crazy. If he lost his Captain, The Knight was going to lose it. All the blood coating him – his Captain's blood…The Knight tripped and staggered but fall how many times he might, he will continue to move on; he will save his Captain.

The desert seemed to stretch out farther than it actually should – like with every step he took, it stretched ten feet. Step, stretch, step, stretch, step, stretch – MAKE IT STOP! The Knight grit his teeth and he did not give up. The body he was carrying could be lifeless, and yet there could be a chance to save him.

And The Knight knew that the death of The Knave of Hearts would impact his Queen in a very, very, very awful way. And he could not let this happen. Because there was a pact between The Knave and he, and he wasn't going to fall through with it so soon. It was _too damn soon _for it to be put in action.

The Knave needed to live.

He was going to live.

He had to.

The Knight's heart almost burst out of his chest when The Castle's towers came into view. His speed quickened and quickened and quickened; he was completely out of breath by now and all he wanted to do was rest – close his eyes and never wake up. But he couldn't because he had lives to save. He had to do this.

"Sir!"

A knight burst through the gates, clear worry hidden-yet-not in his black eyes. The Knight instantly recognized Seven.

"Sai!" He called, using the knight's given name. "The Queen… Get me…"

"The Queen is the problem, sir!"

The Knight cursed under his breath and let Seven (Sai) lead him to the throne room. What came into view, when they got there, was not something he wanted to ever see again. His dark eyes glued themselves on the limp body of The Queen of Hearts.

She was on her knees, scratching and scratching at her chest, her heart; her milky skin was filled with angry red scratch-marks, blood oozing here and there and she was yelling a silent agonizing yell that, as silent as it was, all of The Valley of The End could hear it.

"Fuck," The Knight handed The Knave's body to Seven and he threw himself to the ground next to her, his bloodied hands taking a firm grip of her shoulders.

"M'lady," shake, shake, "M'lady!" His eyes were frantic, watching as hers were clenched tight, unshed tears getting caught in her thick lashes. "M'lady! Please, get a hold of yourself – please. He needs you. He…. He needs you. Right now. He needs you!"

It was not a lie, that same spec of his mind said, when The Knave of Hearts claimed that he held The Queen of Hearts' heart.

She thrashed and The Knight grabbed at her wrists to cease her scratching herself to death. "M'lady! M'lady! Please!"

Thrash, thrash, thrash.

"He's still alive! He can still live if you _help _him!"

Everything went still then.

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break it down and live it up

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Something told him he was staring death right in the face. He wasn't sure if he was afraid; but the lack of any emotions told him he _had _no fears. He lay, flat on his back, feeling as blood pooled out of his side like a waterfall. And his vision became hazy, slightly, but he fought and gripped consciousness with all the might he had left within him.

His sword lay feet away from him and the dead body of Twiddledum lying below him. And he couldn't move, no matter how much he wanted to.

He was…. He was gone.

"You," Twiddledee growled, golden eyes crazed. "Die here."

The Dormouse watched, helplessly, as Twiddledee made to grab the sword; and, oh, the irony.

He was going to die by his own weapon.

Twiddledee gave a maniac laugh…

…Before a determined battle cry interrupted him. His eyes widened for a fraction and the battle cry became louder and louder and louder. The Dormouse ignored it all and turned to stare at the clear blue sky. He didn't blink nor did he try to sit up and figure out what the bone-shattering crack that he heard could possibly be. He didn't twitch at the hollow thump of a body falling to the ground… He only stared at the sky, and watched with curiosity as it went from black, to white, to blue, to black and all over again.

Then it went black; The Dormouse blinked his eyes and the black hazed formed into a bloody face. Glassy honey-brown eyes looked down at him, messy pigtails tickled his face and a hat covered the sun. Hands found his wound and a dry sob passed through this person's bloody lips.

"You can't leave," were her first raspy words. "Don't you dare leave, Dormouse. Please… You can't leave."

He smiled.

He didn't know why or how or when – but he smiled.

"Don't smile, idiot," she growled, her hands pressing against his wound; maybe to try and stop the flowing blood. "This isn't something funny! Please, don't leave! You _can't_—"

"Tenten," he coughed out. At the sound of her name, rather than her alias, he heard her voice hitch. "Thank you."

"No!" The Hatter cried out, "No! Don't thank me! Don't… Don't say good-bye. Please… I don't want to say good-bye yet."

He opened his eyes, slowly and stared at her. _Really _stared at her; The Dormouse felt his chest rumble with affection. He wished he could… He could hug her, or anything of that matter. But his body was growing numb by the second. Numb, numb, numb. But he still tried. He still tried – because for her, he'd try to pick up the world. So he raised a shaky-shaky-shaky hand and he touched her jaw.

She gritted her teeth, he saw, and clenched her eyes shut. "I won't let you die, Neji," she whispered, "I'll never forgive you, if you die."

The Dormouse coughed, blood spattering his mouth and chin.

"It's just for a while—"

"No! Not for a while." Her voice quieted down, "It'll be like an eternity, for me. Insanity… would mean nothing if you're not with me."

And he smiled.

"Neji-nii!"

In the distance, The Mad Hatter watched as clouds of dust and dirt neared her and her fallen comrade. Instant animosity took a hold of her and, regretfully, she let go of The Dormouse's wound, favoring to crouch down in front of him in a protective stance. Slowly, she took her hat off and grabbed a senbon in one hand and a kunai in the other. Her eyes began to grow dark and her anger began to rise.

"Neji-nii!"

A blur of black and white is what The Hatter caught in between golden dirt clouds and transparent dust. And as it came closer and closer she saw the form conjure into The Duchess; torrents of midnight-dark tresses, milky-white eyes, white gown and milky skin.

"_Don't_ come closer," The Hatter hissed when The Duchess came to a complete stop feet away from them. She watched as the new arrival's eyes drifted to the dead body of Twiddledee and then to the body that lay under the Dormouse before her focus returned on her.

"Mad Hatter," she said calmly, "Please step aside. I can save him."

"Don't make me laugh," The Hatter sneered, "I don't trust you."

"You must," The Duchess said, her tone still placid, "I assure you, I can save him; he is my family. I'd never wish him anything ill."

The Mad Hatter's eyes narrowed. "That is a lie; you seemed to have no problem harassing him when you were at the side of The White Queen."

The Duchess's face fell for a second, "Hatter, we can speak of these matters of the past later. For now, let me save him; I know he means everything for you. Let me prove to you that I am here in good terms. No tricks up my sleeves; at all. The March Hare trusts me. Why can't you?"

"March—what have you done to him?"

"Nothing at all," The Duchess said, taking a few steps closer. "He's with The White Knight at the moment, fighting The Jubjub Bird. I peeled myself from their sides on my attempt to help The Queen of Hearts save The Knave. But for now…"

It was silent for a second and The Hatter bit her lip, worrying it with indecision. She turned and glanced at The Dormouse, her heart cracking at the sight of his glassy eyes staring at the sky; her eyes drifted to the woman standing before her and with her eyes closing shut, she sighed. "Promise me you'll save him…. Promise me that I won't lose another precious person…Promise me."

The Duchess smiled softly, sadly, reassuringly, "You have my word. I'll save him."

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take the sin and breathe it up

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As he walked (step, step, step) blood dripped off his person. He didn't know if the blood was his, or if it belonged to the mangled body lying behind him. He didn't care, though. The other person was dead, his white clothes were soiled for eternity but he was alive and he still had to save Alice.

Step.

Step.

Step.

He could hear the flowers whispering.

Hear them whisper words and Alice's name.

Whisper, whisper whisper.

Where is Alice?

Where is Alice?

He came to a stop in front of the never-ending, stretched flower bed, home of any and every kind of flowers. He swayed, his limp arms dangled and danced at his sides and his rabbit ears drooped. But his bright teal eyes still looked menacing, still caught anything and everything off guard and—

He was not going to be late.

"Where is she."

Whispers consumed him.

And in an instance, he was running and running and running.

He will not be late.

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break it down and live it up

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The Bandersnatch walked through the sea of black, gleaming red eyes piercing through the abyss. His teeth weren't showing, anymore – his mouth was shut. He was searching, searching, searching for his dear younger brother; where was his beloved brother? Where, where, where—

He froze.

And a bone-shaking scream escaped him as he fell to his knees, spine cracking, waist snapping and throat being ripped open from the inside out. Bones cracking and flesh ripping – rip, rip, crack, crack…

…A body crawled out of the hole within the throat of The Bandersnatch. Drenched in blood from head to toes, it crawled, and crawled and crawled until it was fully out. Once on the solid ground he gave his body a shake, making blood splatter everywhere; his tail whipped from side to side and his cat-ears twitched.

Bloody-red eyes opened and a crazed, crescent-shaped smile appeared on his lips.

Swiftly, he turned around and his maniacal look saddened for a second, at best. He crawled back towards the dying body, ignoring how his hands and his knees dirtied themselves with mud and blood and muck. He stared into the eyes of The Bandersnatch and breathed out shallowly.

"Brother…"

"Find…. Alice…."

"You _idiot_," he hissed, closing the soulless eyes. _How I wish you did stay; stay with me. Tell me that story. Come and play. Be happy, little brother._

The Cheshire Cat rose up and off the ground, gleaming eyes staring into the dead body of his only relative. Wrenching away from the scene he made to run, his body slowly disappearing with every step until there was nothing left but the ghastly hum and a low, mad-mad-mad chuckle…

"_where are you, alice?"_

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take the sin and breathe it up

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Stirring and moaning, Sakura's eyes twitched until she opened them – slowly, slowly, slowly.

Bleary green eyes danced around as they took in the whole scenery… of the _room _she was in. Sakura had no idea how she got here. And something was telling her she wasn't going to like it… Or…. Sakura didn't even know anymore. She just wanted to go back to Sasuke, honestly.

She was done trying to save others – it was horribly obvious that she couldn't. Actually, she was fucking positive that everyone was going to get hurt either way. She was so damn impulsive! She always had to go and follow the stupid advices she gave herself – there was no way to explain how….

….Was that a fricken table?

Sakura neared the thing, standing right at the center of the room. It was made out of pure glass – just glass. And it looked so… fragile and gorgeous and just… Wonderful. Sakura neared it until she stood right next to it. She wrung her hands in front of her, hesitant eyes darting to every single closed door that littered the oval-shaped room. She looked up and squinted at the spec of lighting and then she shifted her attention back to the glass-table.

"_Alice, Alice, Alice." _That voice sounded familiar in Sakura's hazy mind. The lazy, sarcastic drawl. _"You must choose now. Choose wisely, for the choice you go with will affect you for the rest of your life."_

"…Caterpillar," Sakura asked hesitantly.

"_That is beside the point, Child." _There was a long pause and Sakura felt like she was going to die from the apprehension. _"It's now or never. Either you stay here in The Valley of The End and live your life alongside the friends you have acquired… Or you go back to your world and forget this ever existed."_

Sakura's breathing hitched.

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The Cheshire Cat reappeared deep within the thicket, swirling red eyes staring at the powerful, enormous boulder standing in front of him. It was littered with ivy but he could still see the shape of a door.

He waited.

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"you're breaking my heart and you're taking me down."

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* * *

Yes, I did skip the fighting scenes. I thought I'd save you all from the horror. Ehm... Yeah.

EDIT: for those that _still _can't tell which character is which, I wrote the... erm, legend, is it? Well, either way, I wrote the list/legend/thing in my _**writing journal**_**. **You can check that out.

Review!


	10. strange

**dedication: **To, of course, Saraa. And to getting a good night sleep. And to the psychotic side that all of us secretly have.  
**disclaimer: **Nothing is mine 'cept this crazy plot and the crazy format.  
**notes: **Thanks for the reviews! I swear to Bob that this time I _will _reply to every single one of them.

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The Queen of Hearts had five very noble, very trusty, very _mad _subordinates. They were her eyes when she couldn't see, they were her nose when she couldn't breathe, they were her ears when she couldn't hear and they were her limbs when she could not act. Five mad subordinates. All dangerous. All menacing. All maniacal.

There was one that was _the _worst.

One normally would think it was The Mad Hatter. She was _mad_; she had no reins on any sort of sanity. Everyone knew she strived for revenge, she lived to protect because she could not have protected _the _most precious person she had once had. And now that precious person was _gone_. Taken from her and never to be given back. She was The Mad Hatter and she― was― _Mad._

But it wasn't her, no.

And it was not The Dormouse. No, being shun by his family and left in the cold to live for himself at the tender age of seven did not make him _the _person to fear. He was just as mad as The Mad Hatter but his madness was a crafty one. Hiding behind a mask of stoic indifference that unnerved even the most ludicrous lunatic, sipping is tea and meditating. Don't anger him! Don't make him recite that oh so strange poem he holds _dear_. Don't make him unsheathe his sword… Don't― Don't― Don't― he's _mad_.

But he's not _the _worst.

It wasn't not The March Hare. Whose birth was lonely and tragic; parents dying right at his birth bed, protecting him from the cruel, cruel, and enormous Beast, Akamaru. He grew alone, and he _cracked _like a walnut. He _split _in two and he _went mad_. He's jumpy and he's loony and he's _mad._ He jumps high enough to grab a star and give it up to the person he holds dear… or he can throw it and with precision slice your head off because he's mad and he's accurate and—

He's not the worst one of the five.

Strangely, it was not The White Rabbit, though he was close. His lack of ability to tell time… laced with being late in saving his dear older brother is what haunts The White Rabbit day and night. And still he cannot get it right – he's late, he's late, he's late. He's always late for an important date. And he grows madder with every failure. Mad, mad, mad, _mad_.

_But it's not him…_

It's The Cheshire Cat.

_He _is the worst. _He _is the one that has gone _mad_ – madder than mad. He's out of it. He's _not to be trusted_. But no one knows that.

He sees for his Queen, he breathes for Her, too. He hears anything that She can't and he defends Her with his life. But just for a while.

Just until he can use the _other _side to his advantage.

No one is safe from The Cheshire Cat. Not his leader, not his comrades, not his beloved… No one. He cherishes them, don't think otherwise… And half of the time, his deceit is done in their name… But he doesn't believe that because The Cheshire Cat lives only for himself and no one else. He would not rest until Wonderland is to his liking… He would not rest until it is _safe _for his precious _Alice_.

And he would do _anything, _just about _anything_ until that goal was met.

You know what they say; you have to be **mad **to trust The Cheshire Cat.

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He was blank and silent and still. Nothing but a mere silhouette standing in the middle of green. His tail went stiff and his ears perked up. There was a menacing look in his gleaming, swirling red eyes and his maniacal grin was nowhere in sight. He was serious. He was angry.

He was _mad_.

After all, The Cheshire Cat was the most dangerous of them all.

So with his madness growing and growing and reaching his peak, he waited and he analyzed and he plotted… and he _**broke**_.

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**A**

**L**

**W**

**A**

**Y**

**S**

**R**

**U**

**N**

**N**

**I**

**N**

**G**

**O**

**U**

**T**

**O**

**F**

**T**

**I**

**M**

**E**

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Sakura wrenched her hands together, teeth worrying at her lips and vivacious green eyes glassing with unshed tears. She felt she couldn't breathe and she felt her chest collapsing down on her heart and her lungs and she needed to –

BREATHE

BREATHE

BREATHE

―Sakura gasped and gripped at her chest, fingering it, patting it, clawing it. And she fell to her knees, fists punching the tiled floor as tears spilled and ran down her porcelain cheeks. She needed to get a _grip_. But she just really couldn't – that grip was too high up, out of her reach. She couldn't calm her heartbeat, her pulse, her mind. She couldn't weigh the heaviness of the situation. She couldn't see herself choosing one or the other. She couldn't—

Sakura gasped again, arching her back and rolling her eyes back.

Who took all the oxygen out of the room?

"_Oh, how troublesome. __**Breathe**__, Alice, __**breathe**__. It's not quite hard – in and out, in and out."_

But it was too difficult. She tried to inhale but something was blocking her, something was forming in her collapsed chest that wasn't allowing her to breathe. Sakura gasped and wheezed and screamed and _what was going on?_

It was like she was dying.

Slowly.

Like the burning in her insides was what was killing her.

And—

Then everything just _stopped_.

Sakura lay on the ground, flat on her back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. Her chest wasn't rising or falling – it was still… _She _was still. There was no movement in the room; everything was sickening. It was _deathly _still. It was _murderously _quiet. It was _maddeningly _wrong. And it just couldn't be! It couldn't be so! It _couldn't_. Sakura―could―not―be―

Dead.

Seconds, days, weeks, months, years, centuries, millenniums― how much time passed?

It was still sickening and deathly still and murderously quiet and maddeningly wrong and―

Sakura's apple-green eyes snapped open, her mouth cracked open and she arched her back (snap, snap, snap) and sat up. A wicked hybrid of a scream and gasp escaped past those soft, plump, chapped lips. And her eyes rolled back again and she was _choking _all over again.

"…_Poison. How damn troublesome this woman is. Troublesome, troublesome. Quick, Alice! You must choose now before you end up dying from the poison in the air. __**Choose**__ – say it in your head if you must!"_

But Sakura couldn't concentrate. Her lungs were burning and her chest was heaving and heaving and she felt like it was collapsing and reforming and collapsing and _how much more _could her heart take before it just _stopped _and she was gone and _oh_, Sasuke!

A gasp and a snap.

"_Alice. Find yourself. __**Think**__ – you __**cannot **__die. You must choose! __**Think**__!"_

So a small section of Sakura's mind stopped commanding her to freak out… and instead _thought_.

Konoha… She could go back to Konoha – laugh with her friends (not ino, ino was evil and she would not be there and ino hated her and why did she hate her why did that fact still hurt her so much and―) and smile at her parents and live a life – become something; a nurse, a teacher, a psychologist – she didn't know. But… She could be it and she would live the life that every human – her – would want but—

Then her memories of The Valley of The End would vanish. And she would not remember Tenten and her anger attacks. She would not remember Naruto and his reminder of what crack could do to someone. She would not remember Neji's eerily stiffness and composure. She would never see Gaara and his struggle to _get his timing right_. She would not remember Karin and her dancing and her red-red-red lips. And she would not remember Suigetsu and Kiba and their teasing and their laughter. She would not remember—

_Sasuke_.

(gasp―gasp―gasp―wheeze―gasp―burn)

She… If she left… She wouldn't remember Sasuke.

And… That was… No… Sakura couldn't just erase Sasuke from her memories! She couldn't! She wouldn't! She _wouldn't_! No no no no no no no _no no no NO NO NO NO_!

_I want to stay! I want to stay! Take me to Sasuke! I want to stay! I don't want to forget! I don't want to leave! I want to see his… I want to see his face… Once more. Please! Let me stay! I choose The Valley of The End! I want to stay here! Please! __**I WANT TO STAY**__! Don't let me die! Please! I want to stay!_

But she was still burning inside. She was still dying. She still couldn't breathe. She still felt lightheaded. She was dying – she was going to die and she would not see him again and—

"_Quick, Alice! Grab a grip of your sanity for a second and stand up. __**Stand up, Alice**__."_

Sakura's lips were turning a frosty blue. Her alabaster skin was turning ghostly pale. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't concentrate. She couldn't move. She was dying. She was—

But she stood. She tripped and she fell back and she choked and she wheezed and she gasped but she _stood_. And as she stood in the center of the room, clawing at her chest as her way to keep it from collapsing onto her heart and lungs again, eyes rolling back and rolling forwards again and again—

"_Drink the potion on the table, Alice. __**Force **__it down your throat. __**Drink it.**__"_

Sakura walked – stumble, stumble, trip, fall, stand, stumble – and as she continued to fight to keep herself _alive _she failed to watch as a bottle filled with the potion she had to drink poofed itself into existence, right on the table she had admired before the poison kicked in. She walked and stumbled until her small hip bumped into the table. Sakura's arms blindly flailed around, grasping air and swatting at nothing. She tried to reach for the potion but she couldn't see it – she _couldn't_.

The bottle fell to the ground and rolled around until it stopped. She didn't know where; Sakura threw herself on the ground and crawled, and swatted and felt around until clumsy fingers grasped the potion. Choking and gasping for more air, she cracked it open as fast as her slowly-shutting-down body could possibly let her. And she tipped the bottle down, allowing every last drop to run down her throat. She spat and she sputtered and she choked and she wheezed and she coughed and she gasped and—

Her body warmed up and the tingling sensation that she was changing sizes almost overwhelmed her dying brain and her dying body.

"_Grab the key, Alice. Grab it before it's too late!"_

Sakura fought with herself as she tried, again, to stand up. She fell countless of times and she slipped on the potion she had spat out, but when she stood, her blind hand grasped the key and held it tight. She felt her limbs growing again – her foot, her leg, her other leg, her arm, her hand, her neck, her head and her torso.

She wasn't a speck of a person anymore – she was back to her normal height – she was back to being five feet and the inches escaped her and—

"_To the door, Alice! Run! It's __**right in front of you**__! Run and unlock it, run out and __**survive! You're running out of time!"**_

Sakura stopped thinking and ran. Blindly. But she ran. She did not allow herself to fall. She did not allow herself to trip or stumble. She ran until she slammed into the door; and she jumbled the key in her shaking, numbing hands and ran it down the door, trying to find the keyhole. She was slowly losing consciousness and she just wanted to close her eyes. Never open them again and—

She found the keyhole!

Twist, twist, twist—The door opened and Sakura pushed through it, stumbled and… She… she couldn't… She was so tired… She just… She coughed. And she gasped. And her frosty blue lips turned bluer and her ghostly pale skin turned paler and her eyes rolled back and—

"_**YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF—"**_

She was grabbed. And she was pulled – hauled out of the room and… There was sunlight and – oh! Fresh air! She could breathe! She could think! She could _breathe_! She could _think_!

Sakura took gulps of air, through her nose and through her mouth. She panted, shoulders rising and falling harshly. Her eyes were closed and the hand that was holding hers loosened its grip until she fell on her knees on the floor and that hand fell limply at her side. She breathed in, tried to refill her dying lungs, tried to make her heart strong and beat-beat-beat her chest back into place. And her blue lips slowly turned pink again and her pale skin slowly turned back to that creamy alabaster and—

Her eyes slowly opened and she stared at the grass and basked in the air that she could _breathe _in again. Cautiously, she looked up at her savior, looking up his legs and up his torso and up his neck and up to his face and it was _Sasuke. _It was him – the face that she wanted to see again. Here she was, doing just that and she just wanted to—

He extended his arm, palm facing up and Sakura hesitated not even a second as she placed her small hand in his. He curled his fingers around her hand and with his strength, he lifted her off the ground and pulled her to him until she was pressed against him. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, buried his nose in her neck and breathed in her scent. Sakura fought her shivers and—

"Alice" he whispered, "My darling Alice."

His hold on her was gone. His tail was gone. _He _was gone. Nothing but his face lingered in the air, surrounded by the dark, ghastly manifestation of his body. He stared at her, crimson eyes swirling, angry and saddened and maddened and – he grinned at her before he disappeared completely.

"Sasuke," she rasped out. She coughed and fought to get a hold of her voice. "Sasuke? Where… Where are you?"

There was no response. She couldn't even hear the low humming he did to inform her he was still around and she was just not looking hard enough. She was alone.

"Sasuke? Sasuke-kun!"

There was a rustle in the bushes and Sakura's mouth snapped shut. And then fear and anger took over her and, "Sasuke! Stop playing around and—"

Gaara jumped out of the bushes, red and white all over. He was covered in blood and Sakura fought the urge to just scream. He looked around with crazed, bright teal eyes until they landed on her. His white ears perked up and he walked closer. "Alice – you're alive. We… We must go. Now. To The Queen's Castle!"

Sakura was stunned silent as he picked her up, placed her on his back and began to run at a speed that could only remind her of Sasuke. And where was he? Why did he leave? Was he angry?

Thoughts plagued her mind and worried her far too much to allow her to notice that she was being coated in blood.

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The March Hare, all bloody and bruised and hurt, walked away from the two bloody bodies on the ground.

He dragged the Vorpal sword behind him.

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"_You love him."_

"_Please… Save him… Please…"_

"_He means a lot to you."_

"_I… Please… Just…"_

"_He'll be alright… He's lost a lot of blood. But he'll survive. You'll save him."_

"_I…I… I can't! I don't—"_

"_Shhh, hush now, love. You're a hatter. You know how to sew. Stitching is like sewing. You'll stitch his wound close. You'll save him."_

"_I can't…"_

"_You can."_

"_I…I…"_

"_It's okay, Hatter. Hands that can break, can mend, too."_

"_I can save him…?"_

"_You can."_

"_O-okay…"_

"_There… Rip his shirt open – yes, I know, his wound is fairly large. Concentrate on saving him, Hatter."_

"_O-okay."_

"_There you go… Stitch, stitch, stitch."_

"…_Duchess…?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_Do you know why the raven is like a writing desk?"_

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The Queen of Hearts was bathed in blood.

She didn't quite know where hers ended and The Knave's started. But then she figured that there was no difference – his blood was her blood. Just as his heart was hers. He died… The Queen of Hearts would wilt into complete nothingness.

But he wasn't going to die – he _couldn't_.

She _needed _him.

He was her insanity.

He was what kept her here, protecting these lands as much as she could, leading these psychopaths and loving them all with every bloody pump her red-red-red heart could give. Without him… Without him…. She couldn't think of it. She _wouldn't_.

The Queen of Hearts let out a ragged breath, small shoulders rising and falling dejectedly. She didn't really know how long she's sat there, on her knees, next to his bed, holding his hand, watching his smeared face and just _hoping _he would be alright. Just _wishing _he'd open his eyes and just _yearning _he'd call her all those teasing names just to hide it all and call her his queen in front of his soldiers.

Her grip on his still-cold hand tightened.

Her heart was still aching and she was fighting the need to just _scratch_ it out of her chest – make the pain _leave_.

The Queen of Hearts' crimson eyes scanned his body and she wanted to just _scream _and _thrash _at all the blood that was coating him. She closed his wound – she _healed _him… But the blood was still around. And it was so _red_. She hated seeing him covered in red, unless it was his armor or herself pressed against him until their bodies became one. This… She didn't like it.

"Kiba," she croaked out.

"M'lady," he instantly muttered.

"Bring me a cloth and a bucket of water."

"Right away."

She didn't notice as he slipped out of the room.

They had taken his armor off just as soon as they got him into the infirmary, with The Knight and Seven's help, they got him into black trousers, but his torso was left naked – what was the point if blood had kept bathing and flooding out? The Queen of Hearts clenched her jaw.

She sighed and ran a thin finger on his tender skin. The Knight walked, quietly, back into the room, one hand holding a bucket of lukewarm water and the other one a cloth. He wordlessly placed it at her side and moved right back to his post next to the door.

The Queen grabbed the cloth and dumped her hand into the water, pulled it back up and squeezed out all the excess water. Giving another shaky sigh, she gently – gentle, gentle, he can _break _and then what would be of her – she began to clean the blood right off of him. But then she began to tremble uncontrollably as soon as she figured that the more she cleaned, the harder it was to get the blood off of him.

Why wouldn't it leave?

Why was it still there?

She wanted it _gone_.

Her anger began to flare up as she wiped and wiped – still gentle because he could still break – and wipe and—

She heard the door creak open. And she heard low whispers. But The Queen continued to wipe and sob dryly and get angry, oh so angry – and did you know The Queen of Hearts was just as mad as her subordinates? Did you? Because she _is_.

She trembled and felt her anger flaring up. Going up, up, up, up into the sky. And her crimson eyes turned brighter and she was so _angry_. She was _mad_.

"M'lady," The Knight came to whisper next to her. "The White Rabbit and Alice are here."

The Queen of Hearts stood, stiff and angry and _mad_. She stared at The Knave and she _promised _she would get revenge.

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Sakura hasn't spoken a word.

Not a _single _word.

There was this aching in her chest and it _hurt_. Every time she inhaled and exhaled – it _hurt_. She didn't know what it was, and she _knew _for a fact that it was not something like heartbreak – no, she wasn't like those books. This pain was different – she knew this pain was promising death.

She swallowed and stood next to the bloody Gaara (she was _ignoring _the blood coating her front side) and stared at the empty throne. Karin wasn't in here and there was _blood _on the ground – from the entrance right to the center and Sakura instantly turned to stare at Gaara.

"Why aren't you panicking," she rasped out. "Karin could be dead!"

Gaara slid his eyes towards her and stared. His stare was as cold as ice, but something told her he didn't mean to be that way. He was so quiet, so _cold _and so _detached_.

"The Queen's alive," he finally murmured.

"How do you know?" Why was her voice sounding like that? It sounded as if a frog was stuck right at her throat.

"If The Queen were to be dead or kidnapped," he mumbled, "this castle would be in chaos."

"But the blood—"

Just then, the grand door was opened and in walked Karin. Her red hear was limp and matted with crusty, dried blood. Her face had smudges of the red substance as well, her glasses were on crooked. All of her exposed skin had coats of dried blood on her, as did her outfit and her shoes and her _hands_.

Sakura glued her eyes to Karin's face and she wanted to gasp but she knew it'd hurt her chest. Karin looked _livid _– she looked… she looked like Tenten did when she was informed that there was no butter. She looked like she did… like she did the day before – or was it two days ago?

It didn't matter – the point was that Karin looked _mad_.

"She's poisoned, m'Lady," was the first thing Gaara muttered once Karin came to a complete stop in front of them.

Sakura snapped her head to stare at Gaara, already feeling Karin's piercing stare on her face. She… she wasn't poisoned! She was out of that… that room. She could _breathe_… And… She froze. If she was dying when she was in the room, it was because she had inhaled the poison… It caused her to be unable to breathe and she was dying because of that… She could breathe now because she was breathing fresh and poison-less air…

But what she had already in her system _was still there_.

"Alice is _dying."_

Sakura jerked at his unemotional words.

"I—What?"

Her eyelids felt heavy and, now that she was breathing normally, she felt the stinging pain every time she exhaled and inhaled and it _hurt _– like she was burning all over again. But she could breathe. She… She wasn't dying. She couldn't. She had to live. And… Where was Sasuke? Why did he _leave her_?

"You're dying," Gaara repeated, his eyes never breaking away from his Queen.

"I… No… I'm not…"

"Alice, you're _poisoned_," Gaara said through his teeth.

Sakura's chartreuse eyes widened.

_"…Poison. How damn troublesome that woman is."_

…She _was _poisoned.

She was _dying_.

"I'm… I'm dying."

That ache in her chest, the rasp of her voice – it was because she was _still poisoned_.

She was _dying_.

She muffled a sob.

"Kiba," Karin said evenly – a little _too _composed. "Have Seven guard The Knave's room. And then get Shiho to work on an antidote."

Kiba bowed and exited the room.

"Sasuke's gone," Sakura blurted out.

Gaara and Karin snapped their attention towards her almost instantly.

She flinched under their heavy gazes and she wanted nothing more than to crawl under a rock and cry herself dry. She didn't know why – maybe she was expecting everything to go back to normal just as soon as she chose to stay in The Valley of The End… Maybe she hadn't thought that things could get worse and Sasuke would leave and she'd be here, standing in a bloody room with bloody people wondering what was happening.

"What," Karin asked.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered, "He's _gone. _He _left._"

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Everything about The White Queen is white.

Her castle is white (frosty, frosty, frosty – like her heart), the halls are white, the rooms are white and snow and cherry blossom trees surrounded the place. No one knew how the cherry blossom survived the snow – no one was mad enough to ask. It's Wonderland – The Valley of The End. You don't question things; everything that doesn't work, works and everything that works, doesn't. It's just how it is.

The White Queen's castle had towers over towers. A thick white-brick wall surrounded the castle and over the top of the gates were a crystal ball and a crown over it. In the castle, silver armored soldiers scurried around trying to obey their Queen's every desire. Her piercing, wind chime yells resounded throughout the whole castle and it's long, thick halls, causing the knights to twitch in their armors and have nervous breakdowns as they tried with every single cell in their bodies to not screw anything up.

In her throne room, The White Queen sat on her throne, a golden crown resting on her white-blond tresses. Everything about her was beautiful. She had ice-blue eyes, bleach-blond locks that fell down to her waist; her lips were a frosty blue and her skin was as pale as snow. She wore a strapless gown with a tight, revealing bodice and a skirt that fell around her perfectly.

Currently, she was glaring at the frosty-white wall. Her jaw was set – taut from how hard she was clenching her teeth. She was alone and she was _so damn angry_.

She hasn't heard from _any _of her subordinates. _None._ And this was driving her _mad_.

The White Queen gave out a piercing, shrilly shriek as she clenched her small hands into tight, bone cracking fists.

"WHY IS IT THAT EVERYTHING HAS TO GO WRONG FOR ME? WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE PERFECT FOR _HER_?"

She shrieked louder and louder and louder and all her knights began to scurry around.

And then a crescent shaped grin manifested itself in front of her. Her screaming was cut short as her crystalline eyes stared at the smile with a blank expression. Slowly, she tilted her head as a blue-purple-black tail slowly-slowly-slowly took shape, as did a pair of long legs, folded in an Indian style. A torso soon followed and arm that were crossed in front of a chest. And then a neck and blue-purple-black ears and then… a face—

No.

It wasn't a face.

It was _the _face.

It was The Cheshire Cat!

He was _here_.

In front of _her_.

Floating _in front of her_.

Absentmindedly, she waved her two Knights to a stop, eyes never breaking away from The Cheshire Cat. A slow, dazed smile came onto her blue lips, eyes watching as he tilted his head to the side, facial expression as blind as she remembers – save for his mad smile.

It was that smile that caused that frosted heart of hers to pound against the ice that surrounded it.

"Cheshire Cat," she purred. "How… _interesting _of you to join me."

The Cheshire Cat twirled around in the air until he was floating upright, switching his posture so that his hands were stuffed in the pockets of his slacks and one leg was crossed over the other. He raised an elegant brow and grinned a malevolent grin. "It was only a matter of… _time _before I opened my eyes, Your _Highness_."

Here, he bowed before The White Queen, still floating on air.

"Oh," she gasped, a small smile crawling to her lips. "And… _what _did you open your eyes to, Noble Cat?"

"How _beautiful_ and _mad _you are, My Queen," The Cheshire Cat purred suavely. "I _love _mad women. It… _shows character_."

The White Queen giggled behind a delicate hand. "Oh, how charming. You're just so… _charming_." She waved to her knights. "ZAKU! DOSU! GET THE CHESHIRE CAT SOMETHING TO SIT ON."

Her eyes flashed towards the two, in anger, before they returned to her beloved Cat. "Oh, Cheshire Cat, wouldn't you join me for a… marvelous dinner?"

The Cheshire Cat bowed once again, and took one of The Queen's hand in his, placing a tender kiss to it. "I'd be honored, Your _Majesty_."

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Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Blood fell from his body like drops of rain falling from the sky.

For once, The March Hare's stare spoke everything but _naïve madness_.

Oh, he was mad. He was _mad_. But he was madder – he was _going nuts_. He wanted revenge. He wanted _revenge_ for this new friend he just lost. He wanted it all to end now. He didn't want to fight – he wanted _peace!_ Peace to be able to be happily mad and throw all his teacups and hear that shattering of glass that he loved so much. Peace so he could kill time over and over again and watch how time flew by without a care in the world.

He wanted _peace _to be _mad_… He wanted _peace _to be able to be with _her_.

His grip on the bloody Vorpal Sword tightened and his speed picked up. Running―running―running―running―

And then he gave a powerful jump and in the air he could watch all of The Valley of The End. Instantly, his brain kicked in that soon it'd be filled with _blood_.

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The White Rabbit was not a medic. He would never be a medic. He didn't _want _to be a medic. Someone as mad as him shouldn't-wouldn't-couldn't-isn't allowed to be near sickened people – he'd want to experiment on them and make them function completely different. And maybe he'd kill them, too. He didn't know. Maybe strangle them with his pocket-watch just to see if they all died at the same time and—

The White Rabbit shouldn't be near people. Not people like Alice – he didn't like talking much about Alice; she was such a contradiction and she hurt his brain; she was fragile yet strong; she was a nuisance yet reliable; she was the last thing they needed yet she was their last hope; such a contradiction, Alice was – not people that were not like his Queen and his comrades. The White Rabbit snaps at random spurs of time. He could snap in a second – maybe in ten minutes – what about five hours from now – he could even snap tomorrow – or next week – or – no, The White Rabbit shouldn't be near people.

The White Rabbit was _never on time_. Never ever never ever ever never never ever. He was _never on time._ He was always _late_. The White Rabbit could _not _tell _time_. He was always late. He was always _late. _But not this time. This time he had _been on time_. He found Alice. He was _there_. And he _found her_. He _was on time_. Sure, she was poisoned and she was dying but he _found her_.

He was never on time.

This was a bad omen.

He stared at Alice with maddened apathy.

He knew something was going to go wrong.

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"_What_," The Queen of Hearts hissed again. Her burgundy eyes darkened in pure anger. "Alice, this has _better_ be the poison speaking for you because _I WILL NOT STAND BY THIS! _The Cheshire Cat has sworn his loyalty to _me_! He will not _leave _without my consent! He—"

The grand doors were opened and a bloody Mad Hatter walked in, one of a bloody and half-dead Dormouse's arms slung over her shoulders. His other arm was slung over The Duchess, who was – like everyone else – coated in someone else's blood. The Queen of Hearts stared long and hard – not at The Hatter or at The Dormouse. Her piercing gaze was glued on the delicate, fragile, _gorgeous _Duchess. Her stare was calculating and begrudging because no matter how kind The Queen of Hearts was, a leader could only take so much of her soldiers' beating before she grows resentful to those that harm them.

"Hatter," she finally said, her anger now hidden behind a veil of levelheadedness. "I'm glad to see that you and… The Dormouse are alive and well. Where is—"

A window shattered into tiny pieces as The March Hare passed right through it and into a complete stop little ways from The White Rabbit.

"Ah," The Queen said, her eyes staring at the shattered window before raking through the bloody mess of people in front of her. "Never mind, then."

She watched as The Duchess and The Hatter assisted The Dormouse into a sitting position, watched as someone like The Mad Hatter – who's gone _completely _mad – be gentle with someone she held so dear. Her heart cracked some more and she tried, for their sake and hers, to keep a good face. Because the Leader was supposed to be what brought optimism into something like _this_.

The Queen of Hearts sighed and closed her eyes.

"It has been said that The Cheshire Cat has disappeared," she murmured, her maroon lips barely moving.

"_WHAT_?" The Mad Hatter turned her honey-brown eyes towards her Queen, her hat falling off of her head in her haste. "That's _impossible_! He wouldn't…"

The Queen of Hearts shook her head. "I'm not sure what this mean. But… For now…"

She sighed again and placed her hands to her waist. "For now we must rest. We must regain our strengths and figure out what that conniving Cat is up to."

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Sakura decided that this new ache in her chest _did _have something to do with Sasuke.

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* * *

I have no idea what the hell Sasuke is doing, so don't ask. Let's just see what the hell is up his sleeve. 'Tis be all! :)

Review! :)


	11. her name is alice

**dedication: **To... Saraa and Sonya and that amazing book I read. Simply amazing.**  
disclaimer: **I own the plot and the format. But I don't own anything else, and that includes the ingredients to what Karin is making.** but i do own the italicized phrase through out the whole story. that's right, "where are you, my madness?" is mine.  
Notes: **Thanks a whole bunch for the reviews! And as I promised, I replied! :) Also: the term 'mad' is overused intentionally, I assure you.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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Sakura figured that everyone called her Alice in vain. She was not Alice – she did not feel like Alice. She felt like Sakura – and compared to this Alice, she felt mediocre. Sakura was at times shy, at times feisty, at times impulsive, at times cautious. Sakura was clumsy, fragile and very, very awful at taking her advice to _grow up _and _change_. Sakura was childish at certain times, a scary cat at others; she was easily confused and she… Was not Alice.

Alice was strong. Alice was feared. Alice was loved. Alice was reliable. Alice was a friend. Alice… Was _mad_.

Alice did not take advices; because she always did what she felt was right. Alice was not cautious – Alice did what she wanted, when she wanted, where she wanted. Alice was not afraid. Alice was not childish. Alice was bright. Alice was straightforward. Alice was a lunatic.

Alice was mad.

Mad.

Mad.

Mad.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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**ALWAYS RUNNING OUT OF—**

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_**TIME**_

_but tell me, what happens when it stops?_

_._

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_._

_._

The Valley of The End – Wonderland, as she had heard so many call it – was beautiful. It was full of green, green, green. Forests, smaller thickets, plains, valleys. It was gorgeous. The sky always seemed to be the brightest of blue; clouds were white and fluffy. Sakura smiled softly as she stared at the scenery from one of the stained-glass windows on one of the many halls in the castle.

Now that she thought about it, she has not seen any sort of life in this... In Wonderland – save for the lunatics she was currently associated with. She hasn't even seen the faces of those that were pursuing her on their attempt to assassinate her. Curiosity began to get the best of Sakura as her mind began to wander – what kind of species would she find in Wonderland? Were there only these two castles? No villages or towns or cities or anything?

Her eyes grew glassy for a second before she blinked the haze off.

Sakura was still covered in blood. The irony was that she had had no idea whose blood it was; was it Gaara's? Or… Was it the blood of Gaara's victim? Sakura closed her eyes and shivered; her arms wrapped around her torso and gave a squeeze. She fought valiantly to ignore the squelching sound of the blood.

She didn't know what casualties had occurred on the pursuit to find her; save for Neji's condition. But that girl… She didn't know her name; but she had saved him, or so Tenten had stated once Karin had asked. Not to mention that everyone else looked injured; some sort of cut or bruise or gash littered there body one way or another. Karin, though, was bathed in the blood of… Sakura almost sobbed at the thought that Suigetsu had stared at death right in the face.

Because of her.

The thought made her anger rise.

It made her limbs tremble. Her teeth grit and grind. Her jaw tense. Her eyes flash. Her cheeks heat up. Her heartbeat escalate. Her head pound. Her hands twitch. And her insides fuel with murderous intent. She felt that way right then; her arms, still wrapped around her body, trembled as did her torso and her legs. Her teeth grit together and ground – back and forth. Back and forth. Her jaw was tense, causing the grinding and the gritting to make a very nerve-wrecking sound. Her cheeks were still pale but the heat on her face was almost unbearable. Her heartbeat put a hummingbird's wings to shame. Her head pulsed.

And there was this awful, uncontrollable, feeling inside of her. Pooling in her stomach, bubbling and rising up and up and up and dispersing everywhere. It caused her to go mad. Mad.

Mad.

Mad.

Mad.

Everyone is hurt because of poor, stupid, childish Sakura. Sasuke disappeared because of poor, stupid, childish Sakura.

Her eyes flashed and a sadistic smile began to form on her lips—

"Ah, there you are, Alice."

And the moment was gone.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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"You do like tea, don't you, Cunning Cat," The White Queen cooed. Her icy eyes were glued on the male floating in the air right across from her. Her eyes couldn't really unglue themselves from his form – he could disappear if that happened! The Cheshire Cat was sneaky – he could disappear in a blink of an eye and reappear out of thin air; though very attracting, it was rather… _dangerous_.

The Cheshire Cat continued to hum his song.

The White Queen was fascinated at the ability to keep his eyes blank, even as he smiled that toothy crescent smile. She admired how he kept a proper posture, even as he floated on air – one leg crossed over the other, hands neatly folded on his lap, back erect, shoulders straight, head held high.

He was amazing.

He drove her _mad_.

"Ah," The Cheshire Cat said, cutting his song short. "I am… baffled, Your Highness. I find it entirely humorous how you claim to be madly in love with me, yet you do not know of my tastes." He tilted his head to the side, allowing his ears to droop lightly, as he stared at the flush that crept up the woman's face. "Don't worry, m'Lady. Although I do stomach tea, I do prefer warm milk."

"_Zaku! Get The Cheshire Cat some warm milk_," The White Queen screeched. She glared as her subordinate until he scurried out of sight; once the doors swung to a close, she returned her attention to The Cheshire Cat, her facial expression seductive. "Now, my beloved pet, tell me… Why have you come to me?"

The Cheshire Cat's grin dropped and he was now staring at her blankly. And suddenly he was grinning again. "I have told you, m'Lady. Your madness allures me quite surely."

"Oh?" She slowly smiled and leaned forwards. "And… what of Alice?"

"Gone," The Cat stated in a heartbeat. "Your… poison worked wonders on her. I've given up on keeping someone as bland as Alice. There is no interesting attributes to someone who is curious to follow the rabbit yet not curious enough to fall down the hole."

The White Queen tilted her head, "Oh, is that so? Is this Alice not mad enough for you? Or—"

"Why don't we cease our conversation about a woman long gone? Let us enjoy each other's company." His smooth tone made her toes curl in her heels. He was so… so… _addicting_.

"Let's, then."

She raised her teacup to her lips, closed her eyes as she tilted her head back and drank.

The Cheshire Cat's eyes zeroed on her exposed throat and a slow, lunatic smile crept onto his lips. Oh, how mad could someone be to trust someone like him, he wondered.

When she straightened, he ripped his gaze away from her and to the wall.

His humming began once again.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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The hand on her shoulder was cool to the touch – soothing to her burning skin.

Sakura gasped and immediately regretted it. The awful feeling in her chest panged and it was all she could do but grip onto the windowsill to keep from falling to the ground. She was going to blame her vulnerability to what had just happened to her – what… what… What was that?

What was that… feeling?

She didn't feel like herself!

And it scared her – that person that was… No, how stupid. Why would someone take over her body? No one was around to be able to do that… Unless… No. Sakura straightened a new frown on her lips. It was stupid; it was just the poison making her hallucinate – making her react weird. Making her freak out.

Smiling, she turned around and blinked in her stupor as she came face to face with a porcelain looking woman-girl. She looked like Neji… And…

"You…"

She smiled softly, "Yes, I was with The White Queen."

"Ino…"

The girl's expression softened into sadness. "I'm sorry that she deceived you, Alice. But I'm glad that you are safe." Her creamy eyes lowered to her chest. "Or, well, you will be. Let's go get that poison cleaned out of you."

Sakura took a step back, a hand pressed to her aching chest. "I…"

"I won't hurt you, Alice," she said softly. She extended one of her small hands and offered her a smile. "Now, come along; The Queen must be waiting for us."

And she wanted to trust this girl. She wanted to take her hand and allow her to lead her to their destination. Sakura wanted to befriend her; wanted to smile at her like she was smiling right now. She didn't know why she was feeling this, but she was. And – it was completely different to what she had been feeling right before the company arrived.

Sakura's eyes flickered to the small pale hand. Hesitantly, she slid her fingers in between the girl's and held on tight. "I—I'm Sakura," she croaked.

"I'm The Duchess," the girl said. "But I would love it if you called me Hinata."

Sakura felt vulnerable, as if the life within her was dissipating. "You won't hurt me," she murmured.

"I couldn't even if I tried," Hinata reassured her.

Smiling, they walked down the hallway. And in the obscurity of the hall, Sakura's green eyes glowed – flashed… and then it was gone.

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"_You'll be alright, right, Dormouse?"_

"_Mm."_

"_You'll get better?"_

"_I will."_

"_You'll be by my side?"_

"_Always."_

"_We'll drink tea together, correct?"_

"_As we've done before."_

"_And we'll eat bread with butter?"_

"_Yes."_

"_You won't die on me, right? You won't leave me alone?"_

"_Never."_

"_Do you know why a raven's like a writing desk?"_

"_Do you?"_

"_No."_

"_Me either."_

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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Sakura never really thought dying would feel like this. She never really imagined her throat would be stinging – her chest burning – her breathing (in, out, in, out) hurting every single organ in her body. She never really realized how easy it was for someone to just… disappear. Leave without a trace – die in a blink of an eye.

Would she be missed?

Would her parents know?

Do her parents even remember her – were they calling the police by now?

Wh—

If she died… Would her body miraculously appear back in Konoha?

Why did she care, anyway? Why did she keep asking herself questions like these? It was better to just let it go. It was better to… Give into the life she chose. She was in Wonderland – The Valley of The End. This was her new home. These lunatics – she spared The Duchess a glance – were her new friends. These were the people she was going to rely on now.

These were the people that would be her diary and her resource and her _everything_…

Everything Ino had once faked to be.

Regardless of how much it hurt, Sakura swallowed thickly. She didn't quite know how the thought of Ino affected her, anymore. At the beginning of this… this… journey, the idea that Ino was not who she had led to be hurt her – it made her want to curl into a ball and just… cry. Let go. And cry. But, of course she didn't do that – not that she had the chance to do so, anyway.

But now… Thoughts of Ino stirred anger in the pit of her stomach.

It made that… inexplicable feeling from before come back. The heated skin, the gritting teeth – everything. It made her want to act on that anger – it made her want Ino to be gone.

Because, with this feeling, the idea of someone as awful as Ino did not deserve to be alive. She should be punished – she should be brought to justice. She should feel what she made Sakura feel.

Sakura's eyes flashed and a smirk appeared on her lips as The Duchess led her down glorious stairs.

Ino had been Sakura's very first friend. Her very _best _friend. Together, they had laughed and together they had cried. Together they shared memories that no one else knew – Ino taught Sakura about confidence; she taught her how to go out there and show the world that it was in the palm of her hands. Every time Ino had to go on a blasted trip, Sakura would feel the days stretch and stretch and stretch.

And when she came back it was all the best, all over again.

It was like a rollercoaster.

But now Sakura could see that it was all a lie. None of it was true – and Sakura had been foolish enough to believe her. She had been foolish enough to find it truthful that a parent would leave their daughter in one city while they were in another. She had been foolish enough to believe Ino and every single _white _lie she threw at her.

White lie.

Such a fitting term.

The White Queen. White lies.

Sakura swallowed (the burn, the burn – it killed her slowly) a dark chuckle.

The White Queen was not a friend of hers.

Actually…

The Duchess opened a heavy wooden door.

…The White Queen needed to be taken care of.

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Alone, The March Hare stood in the throne room; where he had been left.

He had not the energy to move.

Nor the energy to smile.

His crazed, electric blue eyes glued themselves on the Vorpal Sword.

Oh me, oh my. How awful such a loss could be.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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The White Queen looked up from her tea, sighing almost angrily. "I cannot stand this, Cheshire Cat – why are you here. Why, _really_? You don't really take me for a fool, do you?"

The Cheshire Cat's lips stretched to his ever present grin – from ear to ear it went. Teeth, pearly and white, glinting in the lighting. And his dark eyes swirled once again – red, black, red, black, red, black. It was a never ending cycle – red, black, red, black. He chuckled lowly, turning in the air until he was lying on his back, head tilted so that he could stare at The White Queen. "Ah, ah, ah, m'Lady."

Her paper-white skin grew pink. "_I will not tolerate this insolence, Cheshire Cat! I demand to know!_"

"What did curiosity kill, Your Highness?"

His voice was close. Buzzing in her ear, heating the delicate skin of her neck. Teasing her – alluring her. Icy blue eyes widened, clouded with anger and lust and curiosity and alertness. She hummed, eyes slowly lowering down until she was watching everything from under her lashes. "Tell me," she said, lowly, frostily, "What could curiosity have ever killed, hm?"

She heard his chuckle – deep and low and cunning and deceitful. She felt it – felt her skin vibrate with every single chuckle (hn, hn, hn, hn, _hn_). She felt his tail slowly wrap around her neck, the tip caressing her cheeks almost fondly.

"The _cat_," he hissed, lowly. "Curiosity killed _the cat_."

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The Duchess pulled Alice into the kitchen. It was filled with steam from the brew—that was all she was able to take into consideration before she had to duck her head low as a flying glass chinaware zoomed right through where her head had been hovering. She giggled lightly, soft smile on her pale lips. "Ah, March Hare – how did you get down here so quickly?"

"RAMEN," he hopped around the kitchen. "I am late for some ramen – I don't dare drink tea! The guests to the tea party aren't all here!"

Alice stared at the shattered glass on the ground in puzzlement before she scurried off behind The Duchess. She peeked at The March Hare and smiled rather fondly as he hoped around the stove, waiting for the water to boil. "When you stare on a boiling pot of water, it won't boil," she commented in a giggle.

The March Hare swapped a glass cup off the counter, "C'MERE, YOU!" And he threw it at Alice.

Alice ducked, almost – almost – almost used to it.

The Duchess giggled for a second longer before she returned her attention towards The Queen of Hearts and her assistant – a lanky girl with messy straw-colored hair and thick glasses. The Queen looked up, burgundy eyes dancing from one woman to the other; her maroon lips stretched into a grand, hesitant smile. "Ah! Thank you, Duchess, for fetching Alice for me. It takes yet another weight off of my shoulders." She turned her attention towards Alice and grinned. "Your antidote will be ready soon, Alice, please relax now."

"I'll…" The Duchess swooshed her way, in her elegant gown, towards The March Hare and took his tanned hand in hers. "I will excuse myself, then, m'Lady." She dragged The Hare behind her. "Come along, Noble Hare."

It was somewhat silent as they left. Given that The March Hare was more jumpier and more mad than before, he was off pulling his ears with one hand and murmuring things to himself. The Duchess tried to withhold her giggles inside.

"You are still hurt," she breathed out as they both walked down the long halls.

The March Hare turned to look at her, sapphire eyes glinting with sadness, madness and hidden anger. "I'm alright."

She smiled softly and shook her head. "You don't need to lie to me, Noble Hare."

The Duchess watched as his eyes drifted away from her, and instead focused on the granite walls. Her soft smile faltered for a second; could he not see? Could no one see that she was not here by ill intentions? Could they not see that she really wanted to help? Could they not see that she didn't want to downgrade herself to adequate beauty just to keep The White Queen happy? Did he not see…

That he made her feel so special just by keeping his eyes on her?

"What's wrong," she asked timidly.

The March Hare turned his sloppy grin towards her. "Nothing! It's…"

As they ascended the stairs and passed The Queen's throne room, she caught his stare as it flickered to the door. She wasn't stupid – she knew the single object that still stayed in the throne room long after all the members of The Queen of Hearts merry band were dismissed. The bloody Vorpal sword was left in there, leaning against the cushioned wall behind the throne.

And The Duchess' heart panged at the realization. Ducking her head low, allowing her inky bangs to shield her eyes, she bit her lower lip. "The White Knight was my faithful subordinate. He promised he'd do anything in his part to comply with my wishes. His death… Hurts me greatly; but I don't blame you. And I know that," she breathed out, "Kakashi-kun wouldn't have wanted you to feel guilty."

"I could have helped more—"

"You did what you could." She frightened herself at the sound of her voice sounding so stern. A timid smile teased her lips as she wrung her hands in front of her gown. "Let me heal you, Noble Hare. As my thank you for fighting alongside The White Knight."

The March Hare was not himself – it was almost frightening. But as he stared at The Duchess and her smile and her gorgeous eyes, he couldn't help but nod his head.

"Very well then," she said airily, clasping her hands in front of her as they walked out into the courtyard. "Let's begin your healing, shall we? We need you strong and healthy for what is to come!"

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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Sakura hesitantly strode towards the island-like crimson-red table that sat right in the middle of the kitchen. There were bottles and flasks and beakers, burners and test-tubes. There were also bottles with liquids around and in the center was a burner with a flask being held by a clamp holder. Sakura's green eyes traveled through all the materials, attention completely held – even the sting and unbearable pain she felt when she breathed was lost from her interest.

"Ah," Karin said, waving a small hand at, who Sakura supposed was, Shiho. "I'll handle it from here, Shiho, thank you."

The meek girl scurried away.

Sakura watched as Karin pursed her maroon lips, tapped one of her fingers – nails coated in glossy ruby-red polish – on her chin. "Pishalver," she drawled. "Let me think…" The Queen's eyes scanned all the bottles and potions surrounding her before she made to grab one in each hand. She placed one close to her while her hands went to work at opening the other. "A pinch of worm fat," she said lightly, looking up and smiling at Sakura.

She gave her a hesitant smile back.

Karin grabbed the other glass, "Urine of the horsefly."

Sakura's eyes grew wide and she felt her already damaged throat curl in reluctance.

"Ah!" Karin giggled, grabbing something in between her delicate thumb and her delicate forefinger. She held it up and waved it playfully at Sakura. "Buttered fingers!" Giggling some more, she dipped it into the flask along with the other ingredients. Smiling she looked up at Sakura and the smile turned sad and heartwarming. "My sister's very… convincing," she murmured, softly, "I haven't gotten the chance to say this, but I _am _awfully sorry for the turmoil she has brought to you."

Sakura let out a shaky breath and a hesitant smile. Her voice was but a rasp as she said, "Ah, well… What can I say – I was out of the equation… Or, at least, my brain was…"

"Oh," Karin giggled, "It's a miracle she could get away with these acts _twice_ – she's naturally an airhead filled with hot gas!"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sakura grinned, clearing her throat in vain, mind flashing with images of the 'Ino' she was best friends with.

Karin smiled and twirled around. It was so entrancing, watching her dance, watching her smile and laugh… when she had done little to nothing to clean the blood off of her person. Everywhere you look, there was red – her hair, her eyes, her lips, her nails, her clothes and her skin. "It matters not what she thinks or does – in the end, you will triumph," she looked up at Sakura and smiled a maniacal smile. "Alice will not lose twice." And just like that she looked down at her work and grabbed yet another ingredient. "Three coins from a dead man's pocket, two teaspoons of wishful thinking…"

"Why is she hell bent on killing me," Sakura asked hoarsely, almost helplessly.

Karin stopped what she was doing and stared at Sakura long and hard and mad – because The Queen is just as mad as her subordinates. "Oh, Alice," she whispered. "Because she's mad. And she's jealous and she wants everything for herself… Including The Cheshire Cat." She leaned forwards, just a bit closer to Sakura. "But Alice _will _prevail. Alice will _always _prevail. You'll see." She grinned. "And when Alice triumphs over her long awaited battle with The White Queen," her grin widened, if possible, as her chin tilted upwards, "I will lead my Merry Men into victory and Wonderland will be at peace once again."

And then she spat onto the flask.

She giggled, "And now your potion is ready!"

Sakura watched as Karin grabbed a large wooden spoon and leaked some of her antidote onto it. She didn't know whether to feel disgust over the ingredients in it, or relieved that this would put a halt into the poison. But none the less did she blow the steam away and swallowed the liquid down her throat. Her chest slowly, but surely, began to feel lighter – cooler, the burn completely gone. And her throat! Oh, her throat felt smooth and wonderful!

"Be cautious," Karin said, "Though you may not be in danger of dying, Alice, that poison will remain inside you for the rest of your life. What I did was merely put out any lethal substance it had mixed within it. If anyone is to find out that you carry a dormant poison within you… well…"

Sakura's brow furrowed in curiosity. "Why…" She trailed off and smiled, admiring how her voice was back to normal rather than that raspy noise she was making. "Why didn't you just take it out for good, m'Lady?"

With her back facing her, Karin's eyes grew wide for a split second. From her time here, never had Sakura once called her 'm'Lady' or anything to show she was under her guidance and her ruling. This… was different… This—

Suddenly, Karin was more alert.

She twirled around and offered Sakura a grand smile, "Because it's impossible, Alice. Now, you must live life at a risk."

And Sakura found her chest crumpling in fear. "I—I—I—I can _die_!" She almost shrieked. "There are so many people after me! I—they can come after me with this new weakness! Not to mention that Sasuke is gone and—"

And it was as if Karin _snapped. _Karin – the quirky, eccentric Queen that danced and danced and smiled and laughed. No, this wasn't her, Sakura thought… Her eyes grew wide and her mouth snapped shut. Because all traces of that eccentric Queen that danced to a pop beat were gone and forgotten.

"All I see in you," she hissed, ruby-red eyes glinting behind her specs – anger, hurt, betrayal, paranoia, insomnia, animosity, want clouding them powerfully. "All I see in you is _fear_."

Sakura sucked in air and flinched. Her heartbeat was racing-racing-racing. Her nerves were breaking-breaking-breaking. And she… She was so scared. So scared. What if she _died_? Sakura didn't… She had come to terms with this before but now… She didn't even know what was going on! She just felt an immense sense of fear and she just wanted to cry. But Sakura did not allow the tears to drop. Her shoulders trembled with dry sobs, green eyes closed, hands gripping the edge of the table.

"Sakura," this was the first time ever that The Queen of Hearts addressed her by her name. Here, in Wonderland – in The Valley of The End – she was _Alice_. Even if Sakura felt everything _but _like Alice…"You are clouded by fear." The Queen of Hearts hissed through her teeth.

"You realize you are dying and you're afraid. You realize you are being hunted, you are afraid. You realize The Cheshire Cat has vanished and you are afraid. You realize this world is nothing but war until one side is obliterated, and you—are—afraid. Fear consumes you and it allows not your true side to come out."

Sakura sobbed, body shaking.

"When you realize you are dying, feel triumph. When you realize assassins are looking for you, feel power. When you realize The Cheshire Cat has vanished, feel independence. Realize that there is war and you feel _alive._"

"I—I—"

"You're Alive in Wonderland – _Alice _in Wonderland."

Sakura stumbled around, knocked a stool down as she turned and fled the kitchen. Karin could only stare.

And hope.

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_Where are you, my madness?_

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Sakura sprinted into the throne room.

She had no idea how she got there but she was… She was… She was feeling that inexplicable feeling again – she was… Sakura grabbed at her head and fell to her knees. Her teeth gritted – jaw clenched – her body boiled – her limbs trembled.

She growled and groaned; the only sounds that she could make as she tried to fight back an ear-piercing scream.

Her eyes flashed.

And stopped.

And flashed.

And stopped.

And she—

Was—

Going—

_**MAD**_!

Pinching her eyes shut for what seemed like an eternity, she slowly opened them and her gaze automatically fell on the bloody Vorpal sword. Groaning, and panting, Sakura crawled towards it. Crawled and crawled and as she crawled, an enormous, lunatic smile appeared on her lips. Her eyes flashed one last time before they remained that way. And she was giggling madly.

Her hand reached for the sword and she gripped the bloody, sweaty hilt and her grip on it tightened almost painfully.

"Kiba!" She yelled, her smile still intact, giggles still escaping her lips. "KIBA!"

The Knight appeared almost instantly, "Sak—"

"Bring me an armor."

"What—"

"Bring me an armor," she said softly, cradling the sword, running her forefinger through the blood. She turned to face him and the look Kiba saw was… This was not Sakura. This was not Sakura at all. He froze for a complete second before he gave a hurried nod and stumbled out of the throne room.

"Right away, Sak—Alice."

Sakura hummed and giggled and studied the sword for some time. She felt alive. She felt strong. She felt competent. She felt…

_**Like a lunatic**_.

She laughed again, louder – madder. And she swung the sword, eyes glinting admiringly.

Sakura looked out the broken window and into the sky and smiled. "Ah, my beloved Cheshire Cat…. Where have you gone?"

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Alice is _**here**_.

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_Ah, my madness, __**there you are**_.

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**Notes: **...Honestly? This story writes itself. I have no control over it. I'm just as much in for the ride as you guys. o_O Some badass mind-fuck, man.

REVIEW! :)


	12. the lobster quadrille

**dedication: **to Sara, Sonya, Emily, Briony and _mizily_ for not only being my 200th reviewer, but for... for being _her _and making me smile with her reviews. Also: to everyone that supports this story. :)  
**disclaimer: **i own nothing. not alice in wonderland, not naruto and not _the mock turtle's song.  
_**notes: **this baby has been sitting in my desktop for a looooong while. and i finally got off my ass and finished it up. :) enjoyy.

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She was a bullet tainted red.

Sakura stared at herself, dressed in crimson. She looked glorious – beautiful. She was ready. In her red-red-red armor - shiny, oh so shiny, and it shone so beautifully; would it shine the exact same way with blood smeared all over it, she wondered – and with the bloody Vorpal sword at hand, she was going to bring peace to Wonderland once again. She was going to take back what was hers, she was going to bring justice – get revenge not only for herself, but for The Mad Hatter, as well. For the innocent that were destroyed.

She was going to restore Wonderland.

And she'd do it alone, if she had to.

Sakura twirled in place, arms extended at her side. Her head was tilted back, green eyes glued to the golden ceiling of her Queen's throne room. She giggled and giggled, crazed grin marred on her rosy lips.

And in an instance, she was gone. She was running – running, running, running.

She was a bullet tainted red.

She was graceful; pink strands of hair obscuring her crazed green eyes as she ran towards grand doors after grand doors. Slowly, a maddening smile appeared on her chapped, rosy lips and she almost giggled as she watched a pair of servants move out of her way. She ran and ran and ran.

Out the castle – she spoke to no one; ignored anyone that dared try to stop her; laughed at those that grew scared; screeched in maddening glee as she slowly grew closer to her objective.

One thing exploded in her mind – like a supernova reaching its maximum. Like that satisfying feeling she felt as her veins pumped adrenaline in her body as she ran, as she grew _mad_. Like, the feeling known as desire as her mad-mad-mad mind reminds her of that conniving Cat. And that one thing… It was the most satisfying thing she could ever feel in her entire life – a mixture of all that caused her to explode in a mad explosion―

She wasn't Sakura – not entirely. Not anymore.

She was _Alice_.

Oh, that felt _wondrous_. That fact felt _right_. It made Alice stop and laugh and outstretch her arm – _clank!_ went the sword as it collided with the ground – and looked up at the cerulean sky. She was _Alice_. Smile still on her lips, she ran once again, Vorpal sword dragging behind her.

She pushed past the stables, mad-mad-mad smile on her lips as she stared at the huddled form on the farthest corner. With her chin raised up high, she walked over the strands of hay; ignoring the horses that were around, she walked straight, straight, straight. Her armor made a clank-clank-clanking sound with every step, the Vorpal sword still dragging and glinting behind her.

"Juugo," she said, tone soft and endearing. "Juugo, I need you."

She watched the hunched form twitch before a head with a shock of orange hair looked up. Alice's eyes glimmered as she came to a halt. "Juugo – wake up."

And Juugo did so. He woke up and he stood up. He was a giant, towering over her with a hunch on his back; his limbs trembled and snarls passed through his mouth. Alice was unperturbed as she watched. "Jabberwocky," she murmured. "Oh, Jabberwocky. Help me slay my prey."

Taking a couple of steps back, Alice watched as Juugo transformed. His height increased and increased and increased until he was more than a giant. His tanned skin turned dark, clawed wings sprung from his back and his mahogany eyes turned orange; like the orange hair he had on his head. He roared a piercing screech and Alice's grin stretched from ear to ear.

He was _beautiful._

He was _mad_.

"Very well, then," she said lightly. "Let us take our leave."

An instance later, the roof of the stables was blown off, large pieces of wood and splinter flying through the air like firework, littering the ground as a beautiful reminder of what today would forever be known as.

The Jabberwocky took flight into the clear blue skies. And Alice on his back.

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The Queen of Hearts allowed a few minutes to fly by. Her crimson eyes still staring at the doors Alice had stormed out of almost ten minutes ago. There was a grand smile on her maroon lips, pale, bloody skin grabbing color as her veins began to bubble up adrenaline, causing it to disperse and fly through her system. She let it, gleefully. She giggled; bloody fingers wiggling in anticipation. She stared – tick, tock, tick, tock, time flew by. There was nothing wrong with wasting time; it was perfectly fine!

But once she found it adequate she squared her bloody shoulders and, with a steady stride – mad, mad, mad look on her bloody face –, she walked out of the kitchen and headed to her throne.

It was _time_.

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**A L W A Y S R U N N I N G O U T O F T I M E**

_keep going keep going keep going  
what if it stops  
what…  
happens then?_

**A L W A Y S R U N N I N G O U T O F T I M E**

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"Oh?" The White Queen tilted her head to one side, lustrous white-blond hair gracefully swaying to the side. "Did my sister send you? I am surprised. What, with her hideously big, warm heart and her disgusting affection for everything. Who would have thought she would send her own subordinate to die."

The Cheshire cat allowed a slow, lazy, mad smile to dominate his features. His eyes swirled – black, red, black, red, black, _red_ – and he disappeared, reappearing right in front of The White Queen until only an inch of space was between them. His violet tail still caressed her smooth, creamy neck and his crazed, swirling eyes locked with her icy blue ones.

"No," he murmured, voice soft and velvety. "M'lady, you misunderstand."

She raised a brow, cold heart ramming against her ribcage, thin, steely face revealing nothing. "Oh, do explain."

The Cheshire Cat chuckled lowly, caressing tail growing aggressive as it slid around her pale throat.

The White Queen's eyes widened.

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He picked out his pocket-watch right out of the pocket of his bloody white vest. Pale, dull eyes stared at the golden cover, white rabbit ears dropping ever so slightly. He hummed and shook his head; frown on his lips, and light brow furrowed. With delicate, bloody hands he opened the pocket watch and stared, again.

"How awful," he muttered, maddeningly.

He rubbed the blood off the glass and stared at the time. He could not tell anything from anything and he glared, anger rising within him.

"I am _late_."

Briskly, he turned around and headed for the throne of his Lady.

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The March Hare looked up, hare-ears twitching, crazed electrical blue eyes darting from one place to the other. His nose twitched, a little and then he stood from the stone bench he shared with The Duchess. He had white bands around his right arm and his hare-tail twitched back to life.

"Ah," The Duchess said, smile on her lips. "Please, Noble Hare, don't overexert yourself."

He whirled around, staring at her. He stood there, all messy blond hair, tanned skin, mad blue eyes and disheveled looks. "I'm Naruto," he murmured, a genuine – mad – smile on his lips.

"Naruto," The Duchess murmured. "Naruto."

The March Hare nodded slowly, entranced by The Duchess and everything that was _her._ She was really pretty and that prettiness drove him mad; he'd like to squeeze her and hug her until she shatters into pieces, just so he can glue her back together and do it all over again. And kiss her. Maybe that, too. But his mad-mad-mad mind couldn't really register that.

"Naruto," she said, again, softly.

He nodded, again, still slow. "Naruto."

She smiled and that smile was so cracked and on the borderline of going _mad_. It did _wonders _to The March Hare. His skin prickled and steamed up; his veins coiled and unwound and let a burst of energy course through his body and he twitched in pure want and he continued to stare at her with those crazy eyes of his and it was _intoxicating._

All went silent as she stood from her seat, smoothing out her dress as she glided towards him in a matter of seconds. The March Hare stared at her, as she raised a small, dainty hand and caressed his skin, wove itself through his entangled hair, pulled at his ears and pressed her lips to his for a brief second.

"Naruto," she whispered, once more. "The March Hare."

In a blink of an eye, The March Hare's madness glowed as he pulled her delicate arm, whirled around and allowed her small body to collide with his back. His free hand shot out, behind him, and grabbed her other arm, pulling until she was hiked up on his back. She let out a gasp and nothing more, transfixed beyond repair.

He jumped into the sky, crazed eyes staring at the window with the body-shaped hole in it.

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The Knight stared at the pale, bloody body lying – unmoving – on the bed. His eyes were darker, madder and his hands trembled at his side.

"I will protect her," he hissed, "I will protect her, for _you_."

With that, The Knight turned around from is Captain's immobile body; The Knave of Hearts will have to sit this one out. And The Knight was going to protect The Queen. Even if it caused him his life.

He exited the room.

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"They have _butter_," The Mad Hatter hissed, honey-brown eyes glued to the rectangular mess in her hand. "Butter, Dormouse. _Butter_."

The Dormouse stared at her, a light smirk on his thin lips – she was so forgetful. Just some days ago she had been flailing over the same exact thing. But she was a mad, mad, mad, mad hatter. There was no room in her head for anything but madness, and he _loved _it. She was most beautiful when she was _Mad_.

He watched her with his crazed pale eyes, as she licked the butter, slowly and sensually before she threw it towards the wall with all her might. She wiped her gloves on the table before she grabbed a loaf of bread and stared at it, a smile tilting her lips.

She was mad – The Mad Hatter. She was _mad_ and her madness drove The Dormouse up the wall, in the most… raw and mad way he could think of. He swallowed, thickly, Adam's apple bobbling in his throat, his eyes never leaving her crazed form. He was transfixed; smitten; irrevocably mesmerized.

The Dormouse began to move, slowly and without him even knowing it. He moved as silent as a mouse until he was behind her – pressed against her, arms caging her in between the counters and his body. He grinned, crazily, as he heard her snicker.

She took off her top-hat and set it aside, long bangs obscuring hazel eyes. She grinned and turned to look at him. "I've been considering things that begin with the letter 'M'."

The Dormouse buried his face in the juncture of her neck and shoulder. She smelt like complete and utter madness – tangible and delectable and it drove him _mad_.

"Moron," she murmured.

"Mutiny," he breathed out against her throat.

The Hatter grinned, "_Madness_."

The Dormouse looked up at her, his crazed eyes locking with hers for just a millisecond before their lips crashed; teeth and tongue and biting and everything and it felt so addictive and so right and it was so filled with that tang of never-ending mad that always circled them like a vulture to a corpse.

The Mad Hatter flipped around until she was facing him, gloved hands clenching his vest. She grinned against his bruised lips and murmured, oh so softly, "Where are you, my madness."

"Here I am," The Dormouse breathed out with a grin of his own. His smooth hand cupped her cheeks, their lips still pressed together. Time was wasted as they stood there, breathing each other in, their madness clashing and mixing and forming into one and—

Their eyes snapped open, honey-brown and pearly-white staring at each other for a fraction of a second before they slowly broke apart, their faces and their eyes turning to face the closed oak-wood doors. The Hatter slowly grabbed her top-hat and placed it over her head, following The Dormouse towards the door.

It was _time_.

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Two flashes – The Mad Hatter and The Dormouse were in front of her, pose the same one as the others. On one knee, one elbow resting on the other leg, their other hand flat on the ground, bracing themselves and their head bowed low.

The Queen of Hearts stared at her trustworthy subordinates and her already aching heart panged at the lack of a certain cat. But she steeled herself, squaring her bloody shoulders and lifting her bloody chin as she stared down at them from her throne with all the pride and satisfaction she could muster.

Her Jabberwocky was gone and so was Alice.

It was _time_.

"Wonderland," she said softly, "will be at peace, finally."

No one moved and her ruby eyes raked at the vertical line they made. The Knight, The White Rabbit, The March Hare, The Dormouse and The Mad Hatter – her noble knights. Her Merry Men. The Queen of Hearts' frown broke and a crazed smile split her bloody face in two and she laughed – loud and proud and _mad_.

"It's _time_, my Merry Band of Men. It's going to be maddening out there," her eyes flashed and her smile widened. "But we're all mad here."

Of course they were all mad – mad!

"Waste time with nonsense, because there's always time for that – time is never-ending. Time is _frozen in place_. We'll stop The White Queen and her ambitious troop of Frosty Fiends! Wonderland… Will be _emancipated." _Free for her to rule, for her to shower with peace, for her to adore and love with all the immaculate force her big, bloody heart could muster.

"Now go," she said, bloody arm rising up into the air. Her eyes never broke away from them. "Go… And be Alice's aid; join the maddening dance!"

The first one to go was The March Hare, taking a grand leap and crashing through a window without so much of a twitch of his hare-ears. The aftermath of the broken stain-glass raining down to the ground was like a melody befitting the situation. Actually, it made The Queen of Hearts' veins pump with adrenaline, her big, bloody heart to pump faster and faster.

Out went The White Rabbit, taking out his pocket-watch and throwing it out of one of the broken windows, climbing down-down-down and then pulling the chain out, altogether; his enraged murmurs of never being late again trailed him as he sprinted out of sight.

The Knight briskly left the room in order to assemble the Red Soldiers, march them to The White Queen's castle and restore justice to those who have gotten away without it for so long. With The Knave of Hearts out for the count, he was going to serve as the leader – commander; leading them to a bloody, mad _victory_.

The Queen of Hearts watched as The Dormouse and The Mad Hatter threw themselves, hand in hand, out of one of the two broken windows, landing with a catlike grace that would have made The Cheshire Cat proud, had he been there. Together, they ran; The Hatter grasping at her top-hat to keep it from flying off from the speed and impact of the wind as she ran, her other hand holding on to The Dormouse's with a vice-like grip. His tail whipped in the air, sword glinting in the sun's lighting.

She sighed and stared, long, hard, longingly, adoringly – until they were all out of her sight. She curtly turned around, the heels of her boots twisting the opposite way for her to make her way to the door. She held her chin up in the air, shoulders still squared. "Come, Duchess," she said, "I must do one last thing before I follow my Merry Men."

The Duchess, quiet as can be, followed her Lady out of the throne room and down halls upon halls colored gold and red and gray and silver and maybe even black. Her pale-silver-white eyes softened as they stopped in front of a room she had grown to be familiar with far too soon. She watched as her Lady took a deep breath and pushed herself inside, through the door.

The Queen of hearts glued her red eyes to the motionless form of The Knave; still pale, still there but _not there_, still bloody and still oh so beautifully entrancing. If The Queen could cry, she would; but she had stopped crying years and years and years and more years ago. But none of that was important – none!

She placed a hand on his bloody arm, a sad, watery, red-red-red smile on her lips. "Soon, love," she whispered.

And with that, she walked out of the room, The Duchess trailing after her.

"There is one advice that my sister has failed to follow," The Queen of Hearts said.

The Duchess looked towards the red-red-red woman, inky bangs falling to tangle with her long lashes. She parted pale lips and asked, "And what is that m'Lady?"

The Queen of Hearts' red eyes flashed behind the glass of her glasses a cool, mad, mad, mad smile stretching from ear to ear. She threw the doors to her castle open, the great, thick oak ricocheting a second after hitting the walls with a great big slam.

"Watch out for The Queen and her Merry Men."

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"_In this case, m'Lady, __**you **__are the Curious Cat. __**You **__are the being tempted by the sinful fruit. __**You **__are the __**Curious Cat**__—_

_And who did curiosity kill?_

_The __**Cat**__._

_Let your temptation, your curiosity be the death of you; __**I **__am your juror."_

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Wonderland was, for a forever-lack of a better term, _beautiful_.

From this height, Alice could see it all. The gorgeous scenic landscape filled with clear, bright green – trees, and never-ending trees along with shrubs and grass and then there was the clear, crystal blue of the lakes and rivers and streams along with the sea-green of ponds filled with lily-pads and frog-men-women. And the trees that populated Wonderland by the dozen! So beautiful how they stretched high, high, high that Alice was positive she could touch the tips even from this elevation.

And then there were the bile of colors – the flowers that she could hear whispering even from here. She never did figure out their names; petunias, poesies, daffodils, honeysuckles, roses, daisies, forget-me-nots, lilies, sunflowers, dandelions – oh! They were all so damn _pretty_.

And the _animals_. Alice was positive she could see lizards and owls and toads and frogs and cougars and bears and rabbits and they were all so _alive _and _beautiful; _it was _breathtaking._

It was… It was so amazing, seeing Wonderland from this light – from the eyes of Alice and not Sakura Haruno. Alice appreciated even the smallest little boy with sharp-dragon-teeth and scales littering his body at random and awkward spots. Alice loved even the most selfish little frog-man, walking around on his hind feet.

Sakura?

Sakura would have only grown curious and she would have only asked questions and wonder and _no_.

Alice was the better of the two, obviously. No questions asked – unless if said question went like this:

_Where o where have you gone my beloved Cat?_

But it didn't, because Alice already knew – she _knew _and she was going to take back what was hers. She was going to restore order – make everything better, in Wonderland and she was going to do it all with a maddening smile on her rosy lips because she _was _mad. As mad as her Queen and as mad as The Hatter

(only not really because no one could be as mad as The Mad Hatter! She was _really _mad. Mad, mad, mad, mad!).

The Jabberwocky soared through the clear blue sky, casting a glow of orange and red laced with madness down to Wonderland. Traces of Alice's crazed laughter trailed them, along with strands of pale-pink hair, short yet long enough to dance around her head like a halo.

"'Can you walk a little faster?' said the whiting to the snail," she sang, rubbing smooth, soothing circles on The Jabberwocky's back. "'There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail. See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! They are waiting on the shingle – will you come and join the dance?'"

She crawled up The Jabberwocky's back and murmured, "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?"

The Jabberwocky did his piercing roar, throwing his head back before diving down below like a bullet heading towards its victim. Alice stared at the white castle of The White Queen and cackled a shrieking laughter filled with pure unadulterated rage and madness.

Once she was close enough, Alice threw herself to the ground with a grace no one but she could pull off. She dashed through the eminent space of the gates The Jabberwocky knocked down as he came to a complete halt right in the middle of the entrance to the White Castle.

Soldiers dressed in white armor roared and began to sprint towards them, swords being unsheathed as they ran, ran, ran. Alice, leaned her weight on one bent leg, the other one stretched at her side. She gripped the hilt of the bloody Vorpal sword like a vice grip and allowed a cruel smile on her lips.

She twisted, on that single leg, and pierced her sword through the thick steel and metal of the armors of her enemy, killing them in one go as they rained on her without a halt. Bodies fell and fell with loud, metallic, hollow thuds and Alice weaved herself towards the entrance of the castle, killing whom she must, sparing those she found were anything but a threat; blood coated her porcelain face, her pink locks, her crimson armor.

Her Vorpal swords grew all the bloodier as she fought without a wince or a bat of her lashes. The Jabberwocky swung his tail, flapped his wings, causing it to crash down on a hoard of soldiers, stomping on others, swallowing selected few.

White Knights came barreling down on them, nonstop – Alice didn't notice, she was too busy laughing and showering them all with her madness.

"'You can really have no notion," she sang, piercing and slicing anyone in her way, "how _delightful _it will be when they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!' But the snail replied 'Too far, too far!' and gave a look askance – said he'd thank the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance."

She stopped right in front of the large, glorious doors and furrowed her brow, smile still on her lips. Open, the doors went with a powerful slam and out came more and more and more White Knights all ready to take her down. But Alice was mad, mad, mad and nothing could do her harm with madness protecting her! Nothing!

She pierced through the armor of one soldier, "Would not –" pierced another soldier "—could not—" and another "—would not—" and another "—could not—" and another "—would not join the dance."

Alice twirled in place and moved around the Knights, receiving cuts on her hands and her face but they were too shallow to be anything threatening and who _cared_! Not _Alice_!

Did any of them know which room The Cheshire Cat was in?

They kept coming and coming and coming! By now, all of the White Knights of The White Queen were probably here, and she was most certainly unprotected and—

"ALICE-CHAAAAAAN!"

There was a something akin to an earthquake; a crater appeared and in the center was The March Hare, crazed smile and crazed, disheveled and all. He waved frantically at Alice, his blue eyes glimmering behind blond strands of hair.

The roars of the White Knights pierced the air as they ran towards The Jabberwocky or Alice or The March Hare.

The March Hare punched a knight, square in the jaw, and grabbed him by the arm, swinging him around and throwing him as hard as he could. He clapped and barked a laugh when he saw him clash with three of his brethrens. Not far from him, Alice did wonders with the Vorpal sword as well as The Jabberwocky stomping and eating and stomping and—

Soon, The White Rabbit made an appearance, using the chain of his pocket-watch to chain up a group of Knights and tighten the chain around them until they were ripped in halves and blood flooded the ground. He muttered lowly, to himself – perhaps about time and being late. But that was soon forgotten once The Mad Hatter and The Dormouse crashed into the place.

The Hatter punched a Knight closest to her, sending him flying through the air and slamming into a wall. The Dormouse engaged himself in a swordfight, killed the Knight off and moved on to the next one.

Alice stared at them, smiling crazily, green eyes blazed. And then all she saw was _red._

Led by The Knight, the army of Red Knights came marching into play and it was _war _and there was blood and anger and rage and tears and _madness_.

Because they were _all _mad.

Alice turned, crisply, towards the door and, fighting her way, she ran inside.

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Her once pale, pale, snow-white-pale face was turning pink and The Cheshire cat watched on with malice and madness and satisfaction.

She choked out words but they were inaudible; his tail tightened around her neck.

The Cheshire Cat was conniving and the most dangerous person you could ever meet; he could get rid of you quickly, yes – actually, he could do anything – _anything _– to get rid of you. But regardless of anything – regardless of any of that, The Cheshire Cat doesn't _want _to do anything because he _doesn't care_.

But this?

This was _personal_.

You take Alice away from him once – but he'd be damned if it happened again.

He would not, could notcontinue on living.

And regardless of anything, The White Queen was the sole, infinite threat to everything.

Her pale, ice blue eyes were turning pink and glassy and she fought for air, clawed at his tail. The Cheshire Cat watched with swirling red-black eyes, hidden behind rebellious raven-black forelocks.

"M'Lady!"

Someone was running towards him from behind, but The Cat couldn't care less. His tail tightened and The White Queen gasped for air. His ears twitched as he heard the steps coming closer and closer and –

A clash of metal against metal and a scent… A scent that drove The Cheshire Cat _mad_.

"Oh," came a voice laced with love, detachment and madness, "_there _you are, my love."

He turned to look from over his shoulder, his tail still around The White Queen's neck, and stared at Alice. He was transfixed at the sight of her; her and her red armor, her and her bloody sword, her and her bloody limbs, her and her blood-stained pink hair, her and her maddening green eyes.

Alice.

She was _here_.

Alice gave him a smile before her eyes turned to The White Queen. "Stop, Sasuke," she said, softly. "_I _will be the judge, _I _will be the jury. _I _am cunning old fury."

The Cheshire Cat released his hold on The White Queen's neck; she instantly gasped and choked for air. Her face slowly lost all the pink and went back to pale, pale, pale and she was _mad_. Oh so _mad_. And her eyes landed on _Alice _and she grew all the _madder_.

She composed herself, as much as she could, still slightly out of breath. But regardless, she said, "Ah, Alice… You're _here_."

Alice lifted her chin in the air and smiled, cruelly. "Hello, Ino."

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**Notes: **Guess what next chapter is. Haaa, i am _so _excited. I'm aiming for it to be out before new years. :)

review! :)


	13. follow me down

**dedication: **To Emily and Sonya, coz today is your merry birthday. To Sara because I love her and we have deep convos with weird noises and smilies. To all my reviewers for your praises, your help and your... amazingness. Thank you. :)  
**disclaimer: **I don't own anything. At all.  
**notes: **Thank you all! I love you and... thank you. Legit. And... I will come back, at some point and fix the typos. I know they're there, scattered. But for now... this is it. :)

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Breathing hard and bathed in red, The Mad Hatter stood back to her full height, gloved fists at her side as her mad-mad-mad hazel eyes stared at the entrance of the castle.

She heard the all too familiar tank-tank-tank of a knight running towards her and she squatted down to the ground, her fists clenching until they shook. The battle-cry the knight gave was like music to her ears as she jumped up, into the air, and crashed down on him, her fist pounding down until she heard the satisfying, grotesque crack of his skull, under his metal helmet.

At once, she moved away from her _n_th victim, her eyes scraping the bloody battle field.

There was an angry, deep, horrific wound on The March Hare's back, ripping his shirt and vest right in the middle. The Hatter was fascinated, watching him continue to stomp on bodies, shattering them into pieces – having little to no idea he was probably bleeding to death.

Her hazel eyes averted back towards the white castle and her insides boiled – her skin prickled – her madness multiplied and multiplied by ten! Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, one-hundred… Two-hundred – MORE MORE MORE. Tanned skin turned pale white and bright eyes darkened – shadows forming under them and making her look so, so, so mad! So mad! The Hatter was so mad! The wiry, tangled strands of hair framing her head swayed as The Hatter continued to shake and move and get oh so very angry.

Angry—

She was _here_! In there! She was in _there_!

WHERE WAS ANKO?

Where did she have Anko hidden?

Anko was _dead_! Oh so very dead and it was all her fault! It was! And The Mad Hatter was so angry! She… Was… So… _mad_.

The Hatter let out a low, agonizing, piercing screech and when she looked up, her pitch-black eyes were filled with rage and her pale-pale skin contrasted the purple rimming her eyes and The Hatter was _mad_. Growling, she threw a punch at a knight coming her way, sending him almost ten feet away from where she stood.

Red and white colored the battlefield and The Mad Hatter sprinted across everything; twisting necks, breaking ribs, cracking jaws and ending lives. Because that was all she could do.

That was all she _could do_ for her dear sister.

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The Queen of Hearts tilted her head to the side, and stared from her position on the very top of the walls of the gates. Her bloody arms were crossed in front of her chest, ruby-red eyes staring at her red knights fighting her sister's white knights; stared as her trustworthy subordinates handled five-ten-fifteen enemies at once. Oh! And her Jabberwocky! How fierce it was as it fought her sister's beast – Akamaru.

A sigh escaped maroon lips as sadness and anger and elation and _madness_ travelled through her insides. She turned towards the quiet woman next to her, lips parted and ready to speak—

—And then an arrow pierced her chest.

The Queen of Hearts turned back to the front and stared at the white knight, holding on to his bow. Slowly, she looked down at her chest, at the arrow sticking out of it and blinked, slowly-slowly-slowly. Next to her, The Duchess let out a muffled gasp, but The Queen looked unperturbed as she raised a brow, lifting a hand to push her glasses back up her nose.

"I have no heart in there," she said, slowly, steadily. A feral grin marred her lips as she gripped the arrow and pulled it out. The bloody tip glinted in the lighting of the sun. "You cannot kill me. You cannot _hurt_ me."

And then she leapt from where she stood, the earth shaking as she landed, the arrow stabbed right dead and center to the knights skull.

"Wear a helmet, dear, it'll save you," she said as her bloody body stood properly, over the dead white knight's form. She flipped some of her crimson hair over her bloody shoulder and allowed her maddening smile to grow and stretch across her face in an almost unbelievable way. "Come Duchess. My sister waits."

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The Mad Hatter gripped a white knight by the shoulders, raising a gloved hand and slapping the helmet off of his head. Her black eyes zeroed in on his face and she grinned, wildly. "Do _you_ know why a raven is like the writing desk?"

The frog-man – he was a frog-man! – trembled and shook his head, violently. And instead of answering The Mad Hatter's question, he began to stutter for forgiveness and for his life. But The Hatter was far, far too angry – how dare he! He didn't know why a raven was like the writing desk! AND NEITHER DID SHE!

But it was alright!

…_Not_.

She growled angrily and snapped his neck and threw him aside. Without wasting time, she grabbed another white knight and repeated the process – she slapped the helmet off his head and stared, madly placidly, at the dragon-man's snout. And she laughed – threw her head back and barked a harsh, mad laugh before she let out a dramatic gasp and looked back down at him – any sign of humor gone. The dragon-man opened his snout as he began to form fire at his throat; The Hatter gripped it shut and glared.

"You don't know either, do you? YOU DON'T KNOW WHY A RAVEN IS LIKE THE WRITING DESK!"

There was a quake as The March Hare hopped to her side, crazed, electric-blue eyes shifting from The Mad Hatter, to the white knight. "He doesn't know? BLASPHEMY! He doesn't know!"

He laughed and clapped his hands together. His sun-kissed hair fell over his eyes, his shaggy-brown hare-ears drooping over as he stopped laughing and stared at the white knight with big, wide blue eyes. "Kill him, Hatter – kill him!"

The Hatter spared her companion a glance, her wide-wide-wide grin growing as she turned back to her victim and threw him in the air, sending a punch that sent the dragon-man flying, leaving nothing but the crunching sounds of his bones breaking. Together, The Mad Hatter and The March Hare clapped their hands and laughed and flailed, linking their arms together and dancing around.

The March Hare let her go and he watched, crazed eyes glittering, as The Hatter danced around him, "A very merry unbirthday! To who? To you!"

He clapped and laughed and clapped.

The Hatter froze and stared at him with a big smile, her eyes slowly turning back to golden-brown and her skin growing tanned once again. She skipped towards The Mach Hare, rounded around him and stared at the deep wound on his back – he still hadn't noticed a thing. She feathered her finger through it, until it was bloody and then she skipped and twirled around until she was in front of him.

"Tag," said The Mad Hatter, bending forwards and tapping the bloody finger on The March Hare's nose. "You're it."

It took him a moment, and he just stared and blinked and stared. "I'm it?" He tilted his hair, pulling at his ears. "I'M IT! HAHA! I'M IT! I'M _IT_!"

Cackling in glee, The Hatter grabbed onto her hat and began to run around, punching and kicking and killing any white knight as she went. She twirled around The White Rabbit, as he cleaned the chain of his pocket watch. "He's it! He's it! He's it! Catch me if you can, Naruto! Catch me if you can!"

The White Rabbit watched them passed with blank teal eyes before he shook his head and threw his pocket watch over his shoulder, allowing it to dangle as he sprinted after his two mad-mad-mad companions. They were running and screeching and killing and punching and kicking and throwing all around the front courtyard of The White Queen's castle, the four of them, making a chain as they chased each other around.

Singing and screaming and laughing and clapping.

Oh, how mad-mad-mad they could be.

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**a l w a y s r u n n i n g o u t o f t i m e**

_tick_

…

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_tock_

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_went the clock_

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…

_before it __**stopped**_

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Alice twirled the bloody Vorpal sword in her grip, her other hand on her armored hip. Green eyes glowed in contrast to the blood-stained pink hair that fell in front of them and the white walls of the castle. In a flash, she switched her sword from her left hand to her right and pointed it at the knight that was standing up, her eyes never breaking away from The White Queen.

"I see you've changed, Alice," The White Queen said placidly, lifting herself from her seat. "Bloody, hm? Having fun on your spree?"

"Not as fun as I could be having, Ino, Dear."

"I see." Pale blue eyes narrowed as The White Queen froze on her trek to near Alice. "So, first name basis, hm, _Sakura_?"

Alice's face was as blank as the walls that stood behind her. Slowly, a smile appeared on her rosy lips; and just as slowly, the smile grew… And grew… And grew until The White Queen was positive it reached from ear to ear. "Yes, Ino, first name basis. Sakura will be enough… Alice is… Not in your _league_."

The White Queen threw her head back and allowed a piercing laugh to escape passed her lips. "Not in my _league_? Are you quite _sure_, Sakura? You surely aren't full of yourself, are you? Sakura is _pathetic_, she cannot win against _me_." She let out a mocking gasp as she placed a small pale hand on her chest. "You haven't forgotten, have you? _I killed Sakura."_

Alice's grin grew as she took a step forwards. "You killed Alice." She tilted her head to the side, feigning confusion. "But Alice and Sakura are the same person… Or not? Who knows? Curiouser and curiouser. Why separate the two, hm? They are, after all, the same person. So let me rephrase that, dear Ino." She came to a halt, ignoring everyone else in the room. "_I_ will be enough. Alice… And Sakura. In one."

The White Queen snapped her head towards her knight and shrieked, "Hand me your sword!"

The knight blinked and, baffled, lowered himself to the ground, sliding his sword towards his Lady. He didn't really catch the smile that manifested above him, as he stood.

Bending over, The White Queen picked up the sword and smiled coldly at Alice, pointing the tip towards her as she tilted her head to the side. Her white-blond hair fell over her eyes as she twirled the sword, testing it. And her frosty eyes never broke away from Alice's crazed green ones. Oh, how she abhorred her! How she… How she _abhorred her_!

She had no right to be here!

No right to come _back_!

Oh, The White Queen was livid as she poised her sword, ready to strike. One of her delicate arms came up, palm facing Alice. "Let's finish this, Dearest Sakura. Once and for all."

"With pleasure, Ino, Dear." Alice got in a battle stance, short pink bangs floating in front of her eyes.

They stood like that, for what seemed like another one hundred years before they both began to charge towards each other; they swung their sword-wielding arms back before they brought it back down, full force. The sound of the swords clanking against each other in a clash filled in the spacious white room; Alice and The White Queen locked furious eyes, teeth gritted as they tried to out-strength the other before they pulled back and scrambled feet away from each other.

"_Why _can't you just stay dead? WHY WHY WHY WHY?" The White queen ripped some of her gown off, shortening it until it was above her knees to give her more access to move with all the agility she could muster. "You were _never_ meant to come into Wonderland! Alice doesn't exist here! She never did! And she never should have!" She sprinted toward her, ice-blue eyes showing nothing but wrath. "_And she never will_!"

Alice watched with maddening wide eyes as The White Queen approached her, rapidly, with the full intention of killing.

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A low, wickedly mad hum began to slowly, slowly, slowly make itself audible in the room. The tank-tank-clash of the swords as the two women fought did not seem to swallow it up. Hum, hum, hum – there came a tail, lazily swinging from side to side, in the air. A smile stretching wide flashed until pearly white, razor-sharp teeth glinted.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum.

The White Queen's knight did not hear it – far, far, far too absorbed in the battle.

"Some battle, _hm_?" A pair of eyes manifested – red, black, red, black, red, black, red – and the smile, below them, grew sickly so. A short, hysterically mad laughter soon followed before the smile and the eyes and the tail composed itself. The White Queen's Knight tensed as he looked up to stare at those mad, mad, mad eyes looking right back down at him – and the smile continued to stretch.

"What—what—what the bloody _hell_?"

With that, The Cheshire Cat was quick to fully manifest, his feet propped on the knight's armored shoulders, arms using his head full of black hair as a recliner. The Cheshire Cat tilted his head to the side, ever so slightly, and peered down, upside down, at the knight with an elegant eyebrow raised. "My, my. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours, knight? How indecent – did you know I have no mother? Is she nice? Kind? Would she serve me warm milk? Allow me to _curl_ around her feet in the fireplace?"

The knight blinked his coal eyes and he stumbled back, slightly. "Wh-what?"

The Cheshire Cat let a low, guttural chuckle. "You sure are a rather… Slow one, hm, Zaku? That is your name, isn't it?" He disappeared for a split second before he reappeared right in front of the knight, hands shoved in the pockets of his slack, cat-ears twitching and cat-tail swaying behind him. "So, come, come, tell me. You weren't devising a plan to strike Alice while she was in battle with your Queen, were you?"

Zaku stared at him, unresponsive.

"_Where you_," The Cheshire Cat asked once again, anger and malice laced in each of his words. His swirling eyes shifted colors – black, red, red, black, red. "Stop hiding your abilities, Zaku. There is a reason you are your Queen's Knight."

The knight allowed a slow smirk to appear on his lips. No later was he running towards The Cat.

"Do you know," The Cheshire Cat asked, disappearing and manifesting feet away from where he had stood, "who is the maddest of them all?"

Zaku remained silent as he sprinted towards him again.

"No?" The Cat disappeared once again and reformed on top of the glorious chandelier. Blazed red eyes peered down at him through messy black bangs as he hung on to the chandelier with his tail. There was that broad, never-ending smile on his face as he said, "I'll give you a hint – who did Curiosity kill?"

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"You're such a pretty, pretty girl, Alice," The White Queen hissed through gritted teeth. They were, once again, caught in a lock between swords, with The White Queen looming over Alice.

Alice's green eyes were narrowed as they locked with The White Queen's pale ones; her jaw was clenched and her arms held on to the hilt of the Vorpal sword, shaking as she poured all her strength to her tight fists to keep from losing. The White Queen's eyes were filled with hate – the kind that chilled one to the bone. A shiver passed Alice's spine, but she ignored it.

She would not lose.

"Very pretty," The Queen seethed as she jumped back a couple of steps. She tilted her head to the side, white-blond hair falling over menacing blue eyes. "Why can't I be pretty like you? I wonder."

Alice remained silent as she raked bloody fingers through her bloody pink hair. Her face was blank – rosy lips in a straight line, green eyes narrowed. And then, ever so slowly, a very mad, mad, mad grin appeared on her lips and her eyes widened with maddening excitement and she was laughing again. She threw her head back and barked out her wind-chime laugh.

The White Queen stared at her, expression blank, fury in her eyes. She couldn't possibly fathom what He saw in her. She didn't see anything special. Pale pink hair (bloody, bloody, bloody), alabaster skin (bloody, bloody, bloody), with that bloody crimson armor and that bloody sword – and she just couldn't see it! She couldn't! She didn't see anything _special _this girl had, that she didn't! Why did He prefer her? What did she have, that she didn't? Why did he love her so?

"You have something that belongs to me," she crooned as they both began to circle around each other, swords ready to attack. "Something that is _mine_ and you took without permission – see, I liked you, Sakura. I did – I wanted to make you my closest friend and then you went and took what was _mine_. And you did it all while pretending you knew _nothing_ – and you did! You _did _know!"

Alice danced towards The White Queen all in her bloody, crimson armor and her bloody sword. She giggled and gripped the Vorpal sword with all her might. "Knew?" Alice let out another fit of laughter and shook her head, mad-mad-mad smile on her lips. "I knew nothing."

"Why do you have to keep coming back – this is _my_ land! This is _my_ world! _I RULE HERE_. Why do you continue to come and want to take away what is rightfully _mine_?"

"SILENCE," Alice roared, clear, maddening anger in her green eyes. She pointed her sword towards the pale woman. "These lands are not yours! You are _not_ the ruler of Wonderland! _You_ merely stole those rights – that _crown_ – from The Queen of Hearts! Without her you'd be _nothing_! Absolutely nothing! Don't you _dare_ speak lies, Ino." Alice shook with anger. Her madness seeping out of her in violent waves. "Enough with games. I said it once, and I'll say it once again – I am your judge. I am your juror. I am cunning old fury and my wrath shall reign upon you until nothing is left."

"SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP. I'll do it all over again," The White Queen hissed, "I'll kill you. I'll sacrifice my men. I'll kill my sister's men. I'll do everything. I'll do everything again, again, and again until The Cheshire Cat is _mine_."

Alice shook her head and laughed, harshly. "Then you will do this again, and again, and again and nothing will _ever_ change. I'll always come back, Ino – I'll always win. I am Sakura – I am Alice. Alice _always_ wins."

At once, the two women ran towards each other, swinging their swords with all their might.

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"The Cat."

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_Tenten staggered out of the destroyed, burnt town._

_She was numb – hazel eyes glazed over as they stared at the horizon, without really seeing anything at all. Soot covered her, her clothes were torn and there were hissing, angry scratches littering her body._

_No one survived._

_She didn't see anyone there – the baker, the shoe maker, the little children… They were gone. Gone, gone, gone and they were not going to come back, were they? Tenten leaned her back against one of the many trees, hugged herself as she slowly sunk down to the ground. No tears came out – she was so numb, so, so, so, so numb._

_Her hair was a mess – tangled and messy as it framed her face, falling around her like a brown curtain as she wore her pretty, pretty, pretty new top-hat._

"_I apologize," came a slow, cunning voice. "Your town is in ruins. I apologize."_

_Tenten was unresponsive. No one was there – no one but her… She wasn't as afraid as she should be; she felt nothing._

"_I should have known she would come after me – I shouldn't have hidden in that town." A tail appeared out of thin air, swaying form side to side. A smile soon followed it, as well as a pair of black eyes; then came two legs and a torso and two arms and a head until a young man was standing before her. He had cat-ears that twitched and a cat-tail that danced behind him. His face was impassive and blank, black eyes holding a fraction of sympathy. "I apologize."_

_Tenten was quiet for a long, long time. She was not blinking, her breathing was shallow and she was… She was so numb – so, so numb. But then the cat-man's apology sunk and it made her lips twitch upwards, made her shoulders flinch as a giggle passed her lips. And that giggle turned into small laughter…_

…_And that small laughter turned into a full out bark of mad, mad, mad laughing. _

_And she laughed. Sitting there, on the ground, dirty and messy and with her top-hat resting on her head. She laughed as loud as she could, holding on to her hat and clenching her eyes shut as laughing-tears prickled her lashes and her tanned face turned pink. And the cat-man stood in front of her, watching her with those blank black eyes._

"_Why, you're a mad hatter, aren't you," he murmured with amusement. "A mad, mad hatter. Come with me. There's nothing left for you here."_

_Tenten let out a dramatic gasp as her hysterical laughter came to a complete halt. She looked at the cat-man with glassy hazel eyes and allowed a broad, mad smile to split her face in half. "I am going to hold a tea-party."_

"_A tea party?"_

"_Yes," she said as she stood up and followed him. "Today is my unbirthday."_

_._

_._

_._

_._

"YOU'RE IT, MR. KNIGHT!" The Mad Hatter threw the man in the air and punched him, square on his armored abdomen. She blinked her hazel eyes and stared as the white knight flew feet away from where she was. "He didn't want to play with me…"

The March Hare was sprinting around her, in a circle, pulling at his shaggy hare-ears and staring at the sky with wide, crazed, blue eyes. As he ran, he panted and panted and panted and panted and he pulled harder onto his ears and his hare-tail twitched from side to side and he just kept running! "I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Oh, why did no one tell me I was bleeding! And I'm it! I can't be it if I'm dying! Oh!"

"Quick!" The Mad Hatter, breaking out of her sadness for the white knight's lack of interest to play with her, twirled around towards The Hare. "Tag The White Rabbit! Tag him!"

White knights – dead and injured, missing limbs, decapitated – littered the bloody grounds of The White Queen's castle along with misfortunate red knights. Only few stood – and The Queen of Hearts' band of Merry Men stood above them, elegantly. Casualties varied from The March Hare's slash, to The Knight losing the upper half of his crimson armor, red scratches taking its place.

The Queen of Hearts – as she made her way to the entrance – was glad to know that her subordinates were alright.

"WHITE RABBIT. OH MR. RABBIT!" The March Hare sprinted towards The White Rabbit, flinging himself at him once he was within reach. "TAG. YOU'RE IT. HAHA. YOU'RE IT! HA! YOU'RE _IT_!"

The White Rabbit glowered as he threw The March Hare off him, ironically cleaning his bloody white clothing from any dirt. His teal eyes moved towards the entrance of the white castle just as his Queen and The Duchess passed right through them. He lifted the chain of his precious pocket watch and flung it towards one of the few remaining white knights. "Tag," he murmured, madly. "You're _it_."

And the white knight split in half.

The Rabbit sucked at his teeth and glared.

"What is wrong with these knights," The Hatter yelled, hotly. "They don't wish to play with us!"

"I'll be it," said The Knight, a mad grin on his lips. He stared at his comrades through bloody brown bangs and barked out a laugh. "Run as fast as you can."

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Zaku let out a piercing yell of agony.

He was pressed to the cold, white ground, the right side of his face flattened against it as he screamed in pain. The Cheshire's foot was digging onto his back – his spine – as his hands held onto Zaku's wrists, pulling them back with all his maddening might. There was a wide grin fixed on his lips, red eyes dancing with pure excitement as he felt the bone slowly begin to leave its socket.

He pulled harder.

And the screaming penetrated the room – drowned the slicing noise of sword against sword.

"See there," The Cheshire Cat hissed through his teeth, through his smile. "_This_—" he pulled at his arms harder, chuckling at the satisfying cracks " –is why I am the maddest of them all. Your ill intentions towards something precious of mine… It made me _mad_."

He leapt towards Zaku, as the man groveled in the pain of his two broken arms. The Cheshire cat sat on his shoulders – laughing at the screeches – and grabbed onto the man's head, his fingers intertwining with messy black hair. He chuckled, lowly, and lifted the head up enough for the man below him to look up into his eyes.

"I am going to _kill_ you," he spat. His mischief was lost and unadulterated anger took its place for a split second before he was chuckling, once again, and humming a song.

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"_You wanna join?" Tenten's grin was still on her lips as she tilted her head and stared at the jumpy guy in front of her. "I'm holding a tea-party!"_

"_TEA?" The guy let out a crazy laugh and clapped his hands, grabbing the white mailbox he had been standing next to (Gaara, it said, and a little rabbit doodle at the side) and flung it as hard as he could. When he heard the wood crack into millions of splinters, he cackled another crazy laugh and clapped his hands. He was pulling at his shaggy brown hare-ears, then. "Tea?"_

_Tenten nodded, smile still intact and completely unfazed by the blond-boy's reactions. "Yup! Today is my unbirthday!"_

_Next to her, Sasuke rolled his eyes and twitched his cat-ears._

"_Oh! Oh! I love unbirthdays! A very merry unbirthday!" He clapped his hands and hopped in place._

"_To who," Tenten asked, still smiling._

"_To you!"_

"_To me?"_

"_To you!"_

_Tenten laughed and clapped her hands alongside the blond-boy. And then she went completely blank-faced and stared at him, hazel eyes blank before she was all happy and grinning and bubbly again. "What's your name?"_

"_Me? I'm Naruto!"_

"_I'm Tenten and this is Sasuke!"_

_Naruto stared at the two before he pulled at his ears and ran towards the house they were standing in front of and barged through the doors. The house was white, with a hay-stacked roof. And it was just so white and plain and Tenten could only stare at it with wide amber eyes. Naruto was thrown out the window a second later, laughing and clapping as he soared in the air. Seconds after that, a boy emerged from the knocked down door, dressed in white with rabbit ears that stood straight up in the air, and glaring teal eyes. Behind him stood another boy, with white eyes and brown hair and a rat-tail twitching behind him._

"_Hi!" Tenten waved at them, frantically. "I'm holding a tea-party! Would you join?"_

"_For?" asked the red-haired-white-rabbit-eared boy._

"_It's my unbirthday!"_

_The rabbit-boy took out a pocket watch from the pocket of his white petticoat and stared for some time. "Very well then." He stared at them, and tilted his head. "Where?"_

_Tenten shrugged. "I don't know! But we'll need a table and seats and tea and bread and butter!"_

_The rabbit-boy stared at her, stared at the cat-boy and stared at Naruto for a second before he sighed, twirling in his feet and twitching his very white rabbit-tail. "So be it. But we must hurry. We'll be late."_

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"I am going to kill you. Do you know how?"

Cat-ears twitched.

"I'm not going to snap your neck. Too quick."

Red eyes snapped towards the enormous door.

"I am going to chop you into pieces. I am going to rip your tendons. I am going to gauge your eyes. I am going to shred your intestines. I am going to pull your tongue out.

"And you will feel it all. And die in pain.

Feel the pain I felt for one hundred years."

The door was opened.

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The Queen of Hearts wasn't really sure what she was expecting to find once she pushed open the huge door with both her bloody hands.

She hadn't thought she would find much, though – she had been sidetracked quite a few times! Enough to drive her mad! So mad, she actually unleashed her wrath on her sister's mediocre subordinates and beheaded each and every one that stood in her path. Really! She hadn't thought her sister would have so many white knights! A group of trio managed to pierce her chest with a sword, even! But she had just smiled at them, cruelly and madly, grabbing them by their throats and squeezing until the bone shattered and their body fell to the ground and their heads rolled off her tightened fists.

But as she walked through the door, The Duchess at her side, her crimson eyes fell upon The Cheshire Cat sitting atop her sister's knight, murmuring cruel things, she bet. And Alice, gloriously fighting her sister – rather… Her eyes fell upon Alice slapping the sword off her sister's grip and snatching it in the air before gluing her body against The White Queen, one sword threatening her from behind and the other threatening from the front.

The Queen of Hearts tilted her bloody head to the side and stared.

"What do we do, m'Lady?" The Duchess asked.

The Queen of Hearts pursed her maroon lips and pushed her bloody glasses back up her nose. "We wait. And we watch, Duchess. Just wait and watch – there's always time for that. _Always_."

Her eyes snapped to The Cheshire Cat – he was staring at her, that cunning smile on his lips. The Queen raised an eyebrow at him.

"M'lady, may I borrow that sword that so gracefully penetrates your chest?"

She looked down at the hilt and took a firm hold of it before pulling it out. She stared at the sword, long and hard before she slowly lifted her head, a mad, mad, mad smile on her lips and her eyes dancing with excitement and adrenaline. "Oh, my poor, poor, Cat, of course you may," she cooed and threw the sword with precision.

It pierced the ground next to The Cheshire Cat.

With madness swirling in her eyes she watched the scene unfold with a mad smile on her lips.

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The Dormouse squatted down and pierced his sword to the bloody ground. His rat-tail twitched from one side to the other, fingers digging into the grassy-dirt ground as his pale eyes looked at the bloody field. There was a wide grin on his lips as he stared at the endless amount of white knights; at the decent amount of red knights… And he snickered lowly, wrapping his tail around his hips.

His left arm was bleeding, a lot – maybe he broke the bone.

His madness didn't really allow him to care; rather, he un-dug the fingers of his right hand and lifted his useless arm up so his eyes can observe. He tried to wiggle his fingers, but nothing happened.

The Dormouse shrugged and dropped his arm back to the ground.

"How booooring," The Mad Hatter drawled as she came to a stop in front of him. Her bloody, gloved hands were at her hips hazel eyes looking at the castle behind him. "D'you suppose they have butter in here? Bread with butter?"

"Perhaps."

"Your arm's broken," murmured The Knight as he came to a stop next to them.

The March Hare dropped himself, on his stomach, next to The Dormouse and sighed. "I'm bleeding!"

The White Rabbit snorted and crossed his bloody arm in front of his bloody chest.

They all looked at the castle.

"Wasting time, waiting," said The Hatter, "How fun. We can wait forever."

The others remained silent.

"There's always time."

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.

_Tenten concentrated her pure, mad anger on her fists and punched a tree. She didn't really pay attention as the tree broke in half – didn't notice the splinters scratch her face._

"_WHY IS THERE BREAD, BUT NO BUTTER? HOW CAN THAT BE? BREAD BUT NO BUTTER, IT'S—"_

"_Tenten," said Neji, calmly. His eyes were closed and there was warm tea-in-a-cup in front of him. The cup was sliced in half –the left half was missing, and oddly… madly… the tea was still in place._

_Tenten instantly relaxed, grin on her face as she skipped right back to her precious recliner and plopped right down. She brought her feet up, resting them right on the tip of the table; her hands brought the brim of her hat down enough to shadow her eyes. She leaned back and sighed, her smile still in place – growing wider by the second. "Where is that cunning cat?"_

"_He went __**out**__!" Naruto grabbed his teacup and threw it towards the trees with all his might. He cackled in glee, clapping his hands and twitching in pure excitement – pure madness._

_There were footsteps. Two – Neji could hear. By the way Tenten twitched and lifted her head ever so, she heard them too; and by the way Naruto's crazed eyes widened, he heard them as well. The three froze in place – listening. No one came to the mad hatter's tea party without an invitation! No one!_

"_Dobe, you idiot – watch where you throw those things." Sasuke appeared, hands stuffed in the pockets of his black slacks, messy black bangs falling in front of his dark eyes. His tail was swaying behind him, cat-ears flapping in annoyance. Next to him, walked a girl, dressed in red – with red hair, red eyes and red lips and a red smile. And next to her walked a knight in crimson-red armor, snow-white hair and violet eyes._

"_So Gaara's not with you, huh?" Tenten looked up, tapping the brim of her hat with one finger, eyes looking at the new arrival with a very big smile. "Where is that rabbit?"_

_("I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. I'm late for an important date."_

"_W-wait, Mr. Rabbit! Mr. Rabbit!"_

"_I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. I'm late for an important date. No time to say hello – good-bye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!")_

"_No," Sasuke said, his aristocratic nose crinkling ever so. "He's not."_

_Naruto stood up and bounced over to the lady in red. "Who's your friend, Teme? She's pretty! Hi, I'm Naruto, nice to meet you!"_

_He grabbed the girl's delicate hand and shook it, not at all grasping the fact that the knight, next to her, tensed and twitched his hand to his sword. The girl smirked and gave him a wink, shaking his hand right back and placing her other one on the knight's tensed, armored shoulder. "Very nice to meet you, Naruto. My name is Karin. And this here is Suigetsu."_

"_She's The Queen of Hearts," Sasuke said, in a drawl. _

_Tenten's grin grew more in size as she stood up, got on top of the table and walked towards The Queen of Hearts, breaking everything in her way. She grasped The Queen's hand and shook it, her mad, mad, mad laugh escaping passed her lips. "It's very nice to meet you, m'Lady. Very nice indeed!"_

"_The pleasure is all mine, Mad Hatter," Karin said, her lips still in a smirk. Eyes, behind red specs, twinkling._

"_I am holding a tea party," Tenten said. "Would you like to join?"_

_Karin's eyes brightened and grinned, "Well, of course! What is the occasion?"_

_Tenten tilted her head and stared at her, hazel eyes swirling with madness. "Today is my unbirthday."_

"_What a coincidence," Karin said, giggling. "Today is my unbirthday too!"_

_("Oh! Where did that rabbit get to, now?"_

"_I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! I'm late for an important date!"_

"_Oh! There he is! Wait! Mr. Rabbit! Mr. Rabbit!"_

"_No time to say hello – good-bye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!")_

"_Backing up!" Naruto called out in a loud voice, clapping his hands. "Backing up!"_

"_Backing up," Tenten echoed, standing up and moving down to the seat Neji had once occupied._

_Karin laughed and clapped her small hands, sparing Suigetsu a glance and allowing her smile to grow wider as he looked puzzled. "Well," she said, accepting the teacup filled with tea that Neji offered her. At her other side, Naruto was pouring tea to three teacups, at the same time, with a kettle with three spouts. "I need your help."_

_Tenten perked up. "Help? How so?"_

_Floating in the air, Sasuke crossed a leg over the other, one hand holding a small little plate and the other one lifting the teacup to his lips – he didn't like tea, that much, of course. His cat-ears twitched as he caught some noise, but he spared it no mind. _

"_My sister…" Karin furrowed her brow, a small frown on her lips. "Has stolen my crown! She has stolen my responsibility of ruling Wonderland. And my sister is not a very responsible woman – she is childish and frosty cold. The people of Wonderland cannot go on being ruled by someone so chilling! I need your help in getting it back! It can't be done right away… We have to be as cunning as a cat."_

_Sasuke grinned a crescent shaped smile._

"_I will help you, m'Lady," Tenten said, all traces of her madness hidden behind a veil of impassiveness. "As long as I can avenge what was taken from me."_

"_Consider it done," Karin said, smiling once again. Her eyes flickered to the other two, her smile widening at their nods. "Oh, how lovely, children of my heart!" She clapped her small hands and stopped, eyes staring. "I will give you names, now. And you will go by this until this war is over, is that alright?" It was quiet and Karin turned towards Naruto. "You, are now The March Hare, Naruto. And you, Neji, are The Dormouse. Tenten, leader of these boys, you are The Mad Hatter."_

_Her eyes turned towards Sasuke; he was unperturbed to what was going on, eyes distant, his hand still holding the little plate and the teacup, ears still twitching and tail still swaying._

"_You, Sasuke, are The Cheshire Cat."_

"_What about Gaara, m'Lady," Tenten asked, tilting her head. "He will be in on this too, once he gets here."_

_Karin grinned. "He shall go by The White Rabbit. And the five are you… Are now my most trustworthy subordinates – my Merry Band of Men. You have given me your hearts, and I have given you mine."_

_It went without saying as Tenten, Naruto and Neji stood from their seats, turned towards Karin and bowed; it went without saying that Sasuke disappeared and manifested next to Tenten, bowing down to his Queen._

_There were footsteps before Gaara appeared in sight. He stared at the scene – murmuring to himself about being late. And Gaara was perceptive – Gaara… had already known what was going to happen. He and Sasuke may not have gotten along all that well, but the two spoke about things, a lot. And… Gaara knew. He knew._

"_M'Lady," he murmured, bowing down to Karin. "I'm late."_

_Before Karin could respond – another pair of footsteps were heard. Everyone froze, lifting their heads to stare at the direction the footsteps were coming from. Suigetsu stood from his seat, sword at hand and—_

—_A girl appeared – pink hair, green eyes, pale skin. She looked lost. She looked startled at the sight of them. "Mr. Rabbit, there you are!"_

_Karin stared, pushing Suigetsu's sword down. And she murmured, "Alice…"_

_._

_._

_._

_._

The Cheshire Cat threw the limb behind him, ignoring how blood splattered his face, how it stained his hands and his clothes.

There was a grand, mad smile on his lips as he forced Zaku's mouth open, pulling his tongue out. Zaku, sweating, crying, and at the brink of death began to scream in anticipation – of utter agony at having nothing but his head and neck connected to his torso. The Cheshire Cat laughed as he brought the bloody sword down; Zaku's head fell to the bloody ground.

"What's the matter," The Cat said, holding the pink organ in his hand. He stared at it for a while before turning to the corpse. "Cat got your tongue?"

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The Queen of Hearts had tears prickling her eyes; her nose was flared, her lips shook.

She looked away.

"Off with her head," she whispered.

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Alice was breathing hard. She was bleeding – she was sweating. She was tired.

Her green eyes were locked with The White Queen's blue ones, hands still holding to the swords surrounding The Queen's neck. Alice lifted her chin, chest rising and falling under her armor at a rapid pace. This was it – this was the part where she avenged everyone – avenged herself, avenged The Mad Hatter's home, avenged… Avenged The Cheshire Cat's broken heart.

This was it.

It was _time_.

Bloody strands of pink hair glued themselves to her bloody forehead, falling in front of her eyes. Alice allowed all of her madness to seep out of her every pore. She shook in pure euphoria, pure madness, pure rage… Pure sadness. Her green eyes shone with hurt and heartbreak as she continued to stare down at The White Queen.

"You…" she said, softly, "I trusted you. You were my very best friend. I told you everything – _everything_. You… were Ino… You were… You were Ino!" She sobbed, screaming at The Queen. "You were Ino! I… You were supposed to be there for me! Just… Just like I was there for you! You… You threw that away… You threw that away for your selfish reasons… You killed me once… You fooled me once… Shame on me… You fooled me twice…"

She shook her head, watching The White Queen's chest rise and fall just as fast as hers was. Watched as she swallowed thickly over and over again. Watched her fear for her life.

"I'm sorry," Alice said, softly, fury slowly taking over the softness in her eyes. "I'm sorry," her voice grew hard, strengthened by madness and fury and venom. "But I can't forgive you!"

The White Queen's eyes widened as Alice pulled her arm back, far enough – as far as her arm could go. And she opened her mouth to say something – anything, anything, _anything_! …But nothing came out. It was too late.

Too, too, late.

She ran out of time.

Alice pierced the first sore through The White Queen's chest. And sliced her head off with the other.

Blood splattered her face – her hands – her armor.

But Alice didn't say anything.

She dropped the second sword… And held on to the Vorpal sword like a lifeline. Watching as the body thudded to the ground, hiding the head. She looked away, walked away and steeled herself.

The Queen of Hearts, not allowing her tears to fall, walked towards her sister's body and picked up the crown. It was bloody – just like everyone else. Just like her. She took a deep breath and placed it on her head.

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They walked out of the bloody white castle, quiet and mad.

Everything was done – everything was over. The never-ending war ended and Wonderland was in Karin's care, once again. And she walked out of the castle, small, bloody shoulders straight, bloody chin held high and her bloody crown on her head. She grinned at those waiting for them – and wishing her Heart was there with her.

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered – Tenten tossed her top-hat in the air, a very dizzy, blood-lacking Naruto jumped in the air. Neji attempted to clap his hands, but that prove troublesome with his broken left arm, so he settled for grinning a mad smile. And Gaara clapped his hands and Hinata smiled a smile full of warmth while The Jabberwocky screeched in joy.

They all stood there, in the bloody field, filled with bloody bodies and blood. They stood there, tall and proud and joyous and mad.

Mad.

Mad.

Mad.

Sasuke stared at Sakura from the corner of his eyes. She was smiling, and grinning, and crying and full of madness. And he loved her – and he wished for a happily ever after, this time. With her.

His bloody hand found hers.

Time froze.

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_fin

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_**Notes: **There you go; the grand finale - let me tell you, the ending was the only thing I planned. The rest just wrote itself. I hope... You liked it. Just as much as I did. And... Thanks, again. For reading and reviewing. It means a lot. :)

Review!


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